Alex Emery

Medic.

[Dr Rachel Clarke @doctor_oxford]

I felt this piece was unusually lacking in nuance from you, @mancunianmedic, whose columns so often are essential, shrewd & analytical reading.

It’s simply not the case that rank & file doctors try to bring down ‘all’ doctors in leadership positions, as you suggest.

@parthaskar is a good example of one such senior figure who gathers huge grassroots support for his integrity, candour and willingness to risk his career to speak truth to power.

So too is @RCEMpresident & the rest of his leadership team - what outstanding, fearless, decent college leaders they are.

Then there are @RobLaurensonD4P & @_VivekTrivedi, who recently completed their stint as @BMAResidents committee chairs. They earned huge respect from residents for their clarity, determination & vision.

I could list many more.

But the sad truth is, too many doctors in senior positions within the medical
establishment are willing to sully their principles to further their own ends or in slavish pursuit of a broader govt or NHSE project to which they’ve become uncritically wedded (PAs being a recent example).

Doctors are highly trained in critical analysis - of course they are going to see such behaviour for what it is. A dismal recent example is of course the RCP faking & fudging statistics on an EGM stage in front of several hundred fellow, no less. Of course doctors are going to take a dim view of those RCP leaders who signed off on spinning and manipulating statistics in this manner.

Respect ie earned, by leaders who lead by example. That means having impeccable standard of probity, if the people you lead are fellow doctors.

Suggesting, as this piece does, that frontline / resident / junior doctors reflexively judge all doctors-leaders with the same knee jerk negativity is frankly insulting - because it implies they lack the critical faculties that, dare I say it, those who think they know better like to think they possess in excess.

[Dr Robert Laurenson @RobLaurensonD4P]

On the same day @AoMRC say that the degree of the discourse being based on sound evidence is unclear.

You couldn't make it up.

They think it's all a storm in a teacup.

There remains a disconnect of information & trust from those on the ground and those in leadership roles.

[Dr Rachel Clarke @doctor_oxford]

Today the @AoMRC - supposedly the defender of the once world-leading standards of UK medicine - claimed that doctors' concerns over the use of PAs was “almost devoid of factual information”.

Is this factual enough for you?

[Taryn Youngstein @TYoungstein]

How can the @TheBMA and @RCP survey and countless other surveys of literally tens of thousands of Doctors be described by the @AoMRC as unsubstantiated social media claims? What?

The idea that there is no “factual information” is not only absurd but insulting

[Baroness Keeley of Worsley (also on BlueSky) @KeeleyMP]

14 months ago I led a Parliamentary adjournment debate covering the case of Emily Chesterton, the daughter of my constituents, who died from a pulmonary embolism after seeing a PA twice at her GP practice.

https://t.co/fSv5Gr7iTc

This is a positive step from @rcgp 👇

[Dr Rachel Clarke @doctor_oxford]

Absolutely disgraceful response from @gmcuk to myself & everyone else asking why they have failed to publish the results of their public consultation on PAs that closed in May.

We provided you with feedback in good faith, GMC.

How dare you refuse to share the data with us?

[Alison Moore @alijanemoore also on Bluesky @AliJaneMoore]

There's going to be a lot of this sort of comment around. The 22% figure is over two years whereas the 5.5% one is just this year's rise (last year's was at least 5% plus a one off payment of around 6%). The level of pay erosion remains higher for junior docs even after this rise

[Alex Emery @AlexWEmery]

@HPIAndyCowper Or some railway signal boxes?

[Alex Emery @AlexWEmery]

@DoctorDemetris It's a fucking joke

[MeidasTouch @MeidasTouch]

On the left: Donald Trump Jr’s post after Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was the victim of an assassination attempt.

On the right: Nancy Pelosi’s post after Donald Trump was the victim of an assassination attempt.

Character and decency matter.

[Matt Green @mattgreencomedy]

Conservatives win 80 seat majority
- Boris will lead for a decade!

Labour wins 170 seat majority
- PR now!

[The BMA @TheBMA]

Today, doctors in their thousands have collectively written to the leaders of the main political parties expressing their grave concerns over the use of Medical Associate Professionals (MAPs) in the NHS.🧵(1/4)

[ClinOncDoc @ClinOncDoc]

I worked straight through the entire pandemic on the front line and contracted Covid twice from hospital.

@conservatives @RishiSunak gave me a 25% pay cut, provided me with bin liners for protection & paid me with claps instead 👏 👏 👏

Kindly get in the bin

[Mike Henley 🤨 @trentconsultant]

This is simply not tenable from @wesstreeting losses of income have not been the same in all sectors. The average worker has already almost seen their pay restored to 2008 levels, not so for doctors.

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

"This is an agenda to substitute doctors with lesser qualified staff"

Must watch interview where Dr Robert Laurenson explains how Physician Associates are dumbing down the NHS workforce

"For the last 15 years Junior Doctors have seen their pay eroded by 26%... This means a doctor starting at £15 an hour should now be paid £21 an hour" @RobLaurensonD4P

"The strike action has cost the government over £3 billion, and pay restoration would have cost £1.3 billion"

"Did you know a Physician Associate is paid 35% more than a Junior Doctor"

"What is a Physician Associate? Years ago they used to be called Physicians Assistants. The intention, so we were told was to help us with simple administrative task. But their role has morphed into something else, and it's dangerous"

"Physician Associates say they are trained in the medical model. They investigate and diagnose patients and start management plans. But these are people with a two years masters degree, in comparison to a doctor with a five year degree"

"They're unregulated. There are no standards for them. They see patients up and down the country in hospitals and primary care. And they might be saying they are a clinician and part of the medical team"

"This is an agenda to substitute doctors with lesser qualified staff"

[ExplosiveEnema @ExplosiveEnema2]

When the Chief Registrar is paid less than the Chief Physician Associate at the same Trust

Just don't look at the job descriptions 🫣

[Ben Beska @Beska]

I’ve spent 6 years at med school, 5 years in general medical training, 2 years in specialist cardiology training and are referred to as “a junior doctor” yet the fact that NHS management thinks a 2 year degree makes a “heart specialist” tells you all you need to know

[Ollie Burton @ollieburtonmed]

If you or your family are ever frustrated by the 8am queue, or longstanding inability to see a GP, they know. This was in fact the plan. Govt are knowingly starving primary care of funding, and very specifically of funding to pay for GPs to see you. They don't care.

[Alex Emery @AlexWEmery]

@LibDems Why is Ed Davey punching this dog in the throat