As the professional body supporting T&O surgeons we work with a number of organisations on employment issues.  These include:

 

The RCSEng's regional infrastructure provides Directors of Professional Affairs for each Strategic health authority, along with Regional Specialty Professional Advisers - http://www.rcseng.ac.uk/regional.

 

Invited Review Mechanism (IRM) - the BOA and other surgical specialty associations, in conjunction with  RCS England, provide the IRM to support employers in resolving concerns about the clinical performance of an individual surgeon or surgical unit. The IRM provides a fair, independent and professional process to determine whether there is a cause for concern and make recommendations for improvement.

 

The objective here is that action should be taken locally at the earliest possible stage with the aim of remedying problems before they affect fitness to practice or impact on patient safety. Concerns about performance may be highlighted from a number of sources including; local clinical governance process, the appraisal process, by other members of the surgical team or through surgical outcome data. We recommend a staged and proportionate response to investigating concerns, considering both the individual and the environment within which they work. 

Employers will already have pathways for dealing with performance concerns.

 

This brings together the full range of organisations that make up the modern NHS in England to help improve the health of patients and the public in general: http://www.nhsconfed.org/AboutUs/Pages/Aboutus.aspx.

The Welsh NHS Confederation and the Northern Ireland Confederation for Health and Social Care support members in their countries.  The NHS Confederation provides a subscription service for NHS organisations in Scotland.

 

The BMA is the doctors’ professional organisation established to look after the professional and personal needs of its members. The BMA represents doctors in all branches of medicine all over the UK.   It is a voluntary association with over two-thirds of practising UK doctors in membership and an independent trade union dedicated to protecting individual members and the collective interests of doctors:  http://www.bma.org.uk/.  Specifically, the BOA is formally represented on the BMA Central Consultants Sub Committee for T&O, including one of our Council members who leads on BMA business.

 

The FSSA is the corporate body of the Specialty Surgical Associations, through which it represents and coordinates the views, aims and policies of surgeons from across the United Kingdom and Ireland, including those related to employment.  In that context the FSSA works with all relevant authorities, including the various Royal Colleges of Surgeons through the Surgical Forum,  to advance the profession of surgery for the benefit of patients:  http://www.fssa.org.uk/