29 June 2007
The British Medical Association has called on the new prime minister to listen to doctors' advice, as a poll found limited public support for Labour's NHS reforms.
The BMA's annual conference in Torquay highlighted the frustration and anger felt by doctors. Acting chair Sam Everington said doctors had been marginalised and their commitment to patients undermined.
'Doctors feel under attack, the government wants to turn everything into something that has just a monetary value. Vocation, dedication and lifetime commitment to patients and the NHS has little value in this new world — we are just financial commodities,' he told the conference.
And he called on Gordon Brown to make a 'fresh start' with the profession. 'Your government has lost support from many of the 1.3 million people who work for your NHS. Listen to us not because we are doctors but because we have given a lifetime of service to patients in the NHS — we are their champions.'
The BMA survey of 1,000 people found that 34% believed changes to the NHS in the past ten years had made the service better, 42% believed it had not improved and 24% neither agreed nor disagreed.
'The public want doctors to be more involved in deciding how local health services are run, and they want to be more involved themselves. It is time for the government to listen to us and to the people who elect them,' Everington added.
PFjun2007
