In this issue

3

At a glance

As the ballot deadline looms, junior doctors report stress and poor morale

4-9

On their shoulders

GPs face an unsustainable workload, a toxic media climate and a rising tide of abuse

10-13

Chilling effect

As fuel poverty becomes a major public health issue, GPs have been prescribing warm homes in a pilot scheme

14-17

A life outside

How working less than full-time is helping doctors stay in medicine

18-19

A winter like no other ‘War zone’ conditions in hospitals having a profound impact on doctors

20-21

The gift of life

A doctor tells why he donated his kidney to a stranger

22 Your BMA

Helping members attend the annual representative meeting

23 Viewpoint

The pitfalls when your patients are doctors

Phil Banfield, BMA council chair

This month, the BMA consultants committee announced it would hold a consultative ballot to determine whether consultants in England would be prepared to take future industrial action. On 20 February, the ballot of junior doctor members in England will close – with the BMA encouraging votes in favour of strike action.

The Government has been warned repeatedly. Every day, ministers refuse to engage on meaningful solutions, they walk blindly into a staffing crisis that is harming patients. Many of the issues which lead us to this point are laid bare in this magazine.

GPs are being pushed beyond their limits. General practice is dealing with rising demand amid declining GP numbers. In the face of this pressure, it is scandalous that mainstream media and politicians have scapegoated GPs. We put the record straight by visiting practices across the country and reporting what working life is really like. I would encourage my colleagues in secondary care to take time to find out just how different being a GP has become in recent years. Better understanding of each other’s reality unites us as a profession against the real issue here: sustained underinvestment across the NHS.

The BMA has highlighted that the country is getting sicker – and the NHS is left picking up the pieces of a society where inequalities are widening. We speak to doctors trying to keep patients well with schemes such as warm-home prescriptions.

We hear from doctors working in emergency departments across the UK – where colleagues find quiet places on wards to cry, patients die on trolleys in corridors, and staff return home from shifts wondering how to pay their bills.

Amid this workforce crisis, we investigate whether more flexible working arrangements could help reduce burnout and improve retention.

We also tell the story of GP Richard Armitage who recently donated a kidney to a stranger – preventing them from requiring dialysis three times a week. After four decades working in the NHS, the compassion doctors show never ceases to amaze me. This is why we are fighting for the future of our profession.

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