BMA Guidelines for Job Contracts

As a UK Doctor it is important to pay to join the BMA. It has very good guidelines on standard UK Job Contracts for a  "SALARIED GP" and "GP PARTNERSHIPS".

One can get copies emailed by contacting the BMA helpline by email.

It is very important to say to all employers that you want BMA guidelines to be followed for all "Job Contracts" ; otherwise they will abuse you asking you to do extra work for no extra pay.

There is a BMA "Model Contract" for "Salaried GPs" which states there should be a "Job Plan" and time blocked off for all meetings and admin. tasks. Following the strict BMA guidance means seeing 12 patients per half-day session; but in many Practices have 15 or 16 patients booked. 

The total number of appointments needs to be limited (capped) at 12 per session;  with NO extra phone calls. One does need to tell of bad staff who book extra slots for patients. 

There needs to be sufficient spare time in the day left to deal with Pathology results, Home Visits, hospital letters etc. ; work at medium speed ; and finish by 6.30pm to go home. 

The BMA guidance states that full time work is 8 sessions per week; and NOT  10 sessions per week so one needs to argue with the employer if the workload is excessive. We all need to learn skills at negotiating and   arguing. The BMA argues and negotiates with the UK Government for us and is good at this. 

the BMA is our "Trade Union" and is very powerful. 

From past experience in the past 30 years  many Practice Admin. staff and Managers are badly informed, arrogant  and spoilt;  and are not aware of BMA guidelines so we need to tell them off. Many cannot do mental arithmetic or count properly.

e.g.  If a Doctor  has a one hour meeting; then this time must be blocked off; he  should have just 6 patients booked afterwards to finish on time; within the 4 hour and  15 minute long BMA work session; NOT have 15 patient booked afterwards.

I am not going to work harder because they lack knowledge. I am not going to lose money because staff are incompetent or daft. 

There are also good BMA Documents on "Accounts" and "GP Partnerships". There are also books available online from Amazon.co.uk. The Oxford series of books on GP Administration are 40 years  old but are still very good. This is accumulated knowledge and wisdom ove r the past 50 years or more. 

Before joining a GP Partneship you need to get the last 3 years of Accounts done by an independent Accountant; and the BMA Partnership Deed. If a Practice does not have these then this is poor - DO NOT JOIN THAT PRACTICE. Ask the LMC and locality Health Authority about that practice to check its reputation. 

In the UK I expect the UK Law & guidelines to be           followed; NOT the business guidelines of Practices in India, Malaysia or other countries. This is UK soil and UK law must be followed here.

f the senior GP works  2 or 3 days per week he/she will need one admin. session per week blocked off to check staff job contracts, accounts, bank statements, ICB (Health Authority) payment statements, legal cases, building maintenance staff management and staff discipline, monitoring the performance of the Practice Manager (PM) , attending Locality & Health Board  meetings etc. etc. 

He/she will also need one extra session blocked off to do UK CQC work; another session to do UK QOF work; so he/she will need around 3 session per week blocked off for all these admin. duties. I have discussed this with the LMCs and BMA over the years.