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From: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Opting Out of 'out of hours'
> I may have missed something but I thought that the new contract allowed
> consultants the option of opting out of 'non-emergency' work out of hours.
> As an EM consultant (soon) I think I may struggle to convince my managers
at
> the contract signing stage that ANY patient attending an ED is not an
> emergency. Thus I don't think we will have the option of opting out of
late
> shifts/ weekends etc.
> Or am I being particularly stupid?
> Peter Cutting
A perfectly reasonable point, Peter, but nicely rebuffed by Andrew Hobart in
the list last month when he was responding to a similar query from Matt
Dunn, and I quote:
Matt makes a very valid point about the protection clause in schedule
three paragraph 6 of the proposed TCS -
"Non-emergency work after 7pm and before 7am during weekdays or at
weekends will only be scheduled by mutual agreement between the
consultant and his or her clinical manager. Consultants will have the
right to refuse non-emergency work at such times. Should they do so
there will be no detriment in relation to pay progression or any other
matter."
As it stands this would not protect A&E Consultants against being
scheduled to work in so called premium time.
When I attended the CCSC meeting last month I pointed this out and asked
the negotiators to address this discrimination against our specialty.
As a result an additional paragraph has been inserted into the
definitions section of the TCS (top of page 3) which says -
"For the purposes of Schedule 3, paragraph 6, non-emergency work shall
be regarded as including the regular, programmed work of consultants whose
specialty by its nature involves dealing routinely with emergency cases,
e.g. A&E consultants."
This is intended quite specifically to protect our specialty against the
sort of thing Matt is concerned about. [Andrew Hobart]
So essentially, Peter, A&E has now been specifically cited as an "exclusion"
for the purposes of definition of emergency work, as, clearly,
discrimination could arise because all of our work is technically "an
emergency". So, in short, there will be no compulsion for A&E consultants to
work during premium hours under the new contract. I hope that answers your
question.
Adrian Fogarty
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