The theme for the BMA’s Annual Representative Meeting next month is an examination of the critical changes needed to the NHS as it recovers from covid, and, as part of that, the call for the public inquiry of the Government’s handling of the pandemic to begin much sooner than Spring 2022. The BMA is to undertake its own Lessons Learned inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic and will gather evidence from members across the UK and seek accounts from stakeholders to inform the resulting conclusions and recommendations.
The impact of the pandemic on healthcare workers has been immense and so motions and debates at the ARM will also focus on valuing doctors through our calls for improved pay as well as addressing the need for substantial staffing increases.
More widely, the conference will consider how to provide better support in the workplace for disabled doctors and improved facilities for doctors who are pregnant and breastfeeding. In addition, there will be motions on a wide range of topics, including recognising and supporting medical student sex workers, training for awareness of hostile environments, public health underfunding, becoming zero-carbon by 2030, doctors’ pensions and awareness of the needs of asylum seekers facing deportation.
There will also be motions on physician assisted dying – last year the BMA carried out a survey of its membership, following an instruction from delegates at its 2019 Annual Representative Meeting (ARM) to poll members to ascertain whether they felt the BMA should change to a neutral position about a change in the law on assisted dying.