Press release: Negotiators meet for first time to discuss new deal for staff grade and associate specialist doctors
18 Apr 2005
A new contract for thousands of hospital doctors came a step closer this month when negotiators met prior to formal negotiations.
NHS Employers and the BMA will be negotiating a new contract for staff grade and associate specialist doctors, aiming to improve their career progression and offer fairer recognition and reward for their work with patients. It is hoped that the new contract will be implemented from April 2006.
Each organisation has a team that will be negotiating on its behalf. Team representatives include doctors, chief executives and medical, clinical and HR directors. The two teams met for the first time last week prior to starting formal negotiations.
Heather Lawrence, chair of the NHS Employers negotiating team and chief executive of Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "Our initial pre-negotiation meeting was both useful and productive. It was a good chance for us to start to get to know the BMA team and to listen to their views. The two teams hope to agree a contract that will be attractive to both employers and doctors, and will ultimately lead to improved patient care."
Mr Awani Choudhary, lead negotiator and joint deputy chair of the BMA's Staff and Associate Specialists Committee, said: "A better contract for staff and associate specialist doctors is not only in their interests, but also those of patients and employers. I believe we have a real opportunity to improve SAS doctors' working lives and ensure their skills are put to the best use. Progress is already being made and we are all optimistic about the upcoming negotiations."
The negotiating teams plan to meet formally for the first time in the near future to take negotiations forward. Both teams are supported by an extensive network of staff from the BMA and NHS Employers.
Notes for editors
- NHS Employers has been given a mandate by the Department of Health to negotiate a new contract for staff grade and associate specialist doctors in conjunction with the British Medical Association.
- The mandate was given following a report by the NHS Confederation. The report recommended that: there should be negotiations on a new contract for staff grades and associate specialists; that non-GP qualified clinical assistants should be brought into the new contractual arrangements and that negotiations for GPs working in hospitals should be negotiated separately at a local level.
- NHS Employers has a mandate to negotiate a contract for England. It will ensure that all four UK countries work very closely together on negotiations and improvement in employment practices and where possible will aim to develop UK-wide agreements.
- NHS Employers, the employers' organisation for the NHS in England, was launched on 1 November 2004. Its work programme includes pay negotiations, health and safety, diversity, recruitment and retention, the NHS Pension Scheme review and whistleblowing
- NHS Employers is part of the NHS Confederation but has its own director, policy board and assembly
- The scoping report by the NHS Confederation can be found on our website.
- NHS Employers' negotiating team members are:
Heather Lawrence, Chief Executive at Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust
Hugo Mascie-Taylor, Medical Director at The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Kathy McLean, Medical Director at Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
David Grantham, Deputy Director of Human Resources at Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust
Renee Braithwaite, Head of Clinical Operations at National Blood Service
Gwyneth Knight, Associate Personnel Director at Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Ashley Fraser, Consultant Histopathologist and Medical Director, on secondment to NHS Employers
Colin McGowan, Branch Head, NHS Pay Policy, Scottish Executive Health Department
Jim Cameron, Director of Human Resources, South Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust
Derek Jones, Project Manager, Pay Modernisation Unit, Welsh Assembly
Sheelagh Lloyd Jones, Deputy Chief Executive, Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust
- The BMA Staff and Associate Specialists Committee (SASC) core negotiating team is as follows:
Awani Choudhary, Associate Specialist in Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Chair of the Negotiating Subcommittee and Negotiating Core Team
Greg Dilliway, Associate Specialist and CMO in Child Health, Chair of SASC Strategy, Policy and Procedure Subcommittee
Mohib Khan, Associate Specialist in Urology, Chair of SASC UK
Paul Darragh, Associate Specialist, Northern Ireland SASC
Sally Winning, Staff Grade in Psychiatry, Chair of Scottish SASC
Jit Lodhi, Associate Specialist General Surgery, Welsh SASC
Mala Viswalingam, Associate Specialist in Opthalmology, SASC UK
Ian Hollingum, Associate Specialist, British Dental Association
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