Report of a Meeting of Northern Ireland Medical Academics Staff Committee held on Thursday
28 February 2013 in the Boardroom, Mulhouse, Royal Victoria Hospital
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
The Chairman welcomed Claire Armstrong to the meeting. Ms Armstrong is the new Northern
Ireland Secretary.
REF remains an issue for clinical academics. The Chair reported on discussions which have taken
place on the BMA MASC Listserver in relation to part-time medical academics being seen as parttime researchers. It was agreed that due to the part-time nature of the academic aspect of
contracts, it is not feasible to expect the same outputs as full time contract holders. The secretariat
will provide updates to members as appropriate.
MEETINGS WITH QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST
The next joint meeting with the university is due to take place after Easter. The Deputy Secretary
reported on the value of these meetings and the fact that issues pertinent to medical academics
could be brought up and addressed. The Deputy Secretary also highlighted a number ‘gains’
including important changes to the wording of the new contract. He also stressed the need to be
involved in these meetings in the future.
NHS CONSULTANT CONTRACT
The Northern Ireland Secretary/Deputy Secretary updated members on the consultant contract. It is
not at a stage of negotiation as yet and remains in pre-talks stage. A meeting of BMA Consultants’
Committee is due to take place on 7 March 2013 to discuss the way forward. Representatives of
Northern Ireland Consultants’ Committee will be in attendance at that meeting. The Deputy
Secretary updated on informal meetings which have already taken place with DHSSPSS officials. He
highlighted the fact that medical academics were also impacted by the new contract proposals. In
addition, he reported on the Scottish and Welsh situations, which were not part of UK talks.
JUNIOR DOCTOR CONTRACT
The Northern Ireland Secretary reported that the junior doctor contract is at a more advanced stage
than the consultant contract. It is currently a UK wide negotiation. Dr Gorman confirmed that it is
anticipated banding will be removed.
REVALIDATION OF MEDICAL ACADEMICS
The Chair updated members on the appraisal system for medical academics which had been
introduced by Queen’s University. Members were unhappy with the new documentation and felt
that it represented performance management as opposed to appraisal. The Chair worked with the
former Northern Ireland Consultants Committee Chair, Dr Steve Austin, to make a number of
changes to the document. Forms 8, 9 and 10 were originally at the start of the document and the
Chair and Dr Austin asked if they could be moved to the end as they are not to do with appraisal.
They also emphasised that while they would be happy for the forums to be discussed during the
appraisal meeting they should not be part of the revalidation process. Confirmation of the new
order of the documentation is awaited from the university.
Dr Tohani raised a query in relation to Responsible Officers for revalidation. As a lot of staff at
Queen’s University hold an honorary contract they should be appraised by a member of the
university, however, that has not happened. Those members holding honorary contracts have not
been informed who will be acting as their Responsible Officer. It was agreed this matter should be
raised at the next joint meeting with the university.
UNIVERSITY CAPABILITY PROCEDURE
The Chair welcomed Professor Charles Campbell to the meeting. Professor Campbell provided an
overview of the disciplinary procedure operated at Queen’s University and the recommendations in
place at REF. Again the issue of the amount of research required by part-time medical academics as
opposed to those who are full-time was raised. A useful discussion ensued highlighting the
problems for academics in meeting ‘unrealistic’ REF deadlines and, in addition, the Follett principles
and the application of such in Northern Ireland – i.e. not all the principles have been accepted here.
It was suggested that the next edition of the NIMASC Newsletter could contain an article on the
issue of the university’s capability procedure and highlighting the services of BMA’s Industrial
Relations team.
On the back of the discussion, the Deputy Secretary suggested holding another medical academics
‘Open Night’ bringing together both members and non-members. This would give academics a
chance to raise some of these burning issues and would offer the BMA a really good opportunity to
recruit non members. The Chair agreed this would be a very good idea and Deputy
Secretary/secretariat will now work up a plan for later in the year.
PENSIONS
The Deputy Northern Ireland Secretary provided an update on the pensions issue. Royal assent on
the bill is due shortly. A legislative consent motion was not passed in Northern Ireland therefore
specific Northern Ireland legislation needs to be drawn up. BMA (NI) has had a number of meetings
with the political parties as well as NIPSA and RCN – and the common issue for BMA and the other
unions is the increase in retirement age. As a result of these meetings a round table discussion will
take place on 5 March 2013 with politicians.
CONFERENCE OF MEDICAL ACADEMICS REPRESENTATIVES (COMAR) 2013
This year’s COMAR will take place on 19 May 2013. The Chair highlighted the benefits of attending
COMAR. The theme this year is REF, Revalidation and Redundancy.
ENGAGEMENT WITH UNIVERSITIES COLLEGE UNION (UCU)
A meeting with UCU has been organised for 25 March 2013. These meetings are very useful as UCU
often face the same issues as BMA and they have negotiating rights with the university. The Deputy
Secretary pointed out that both the BMA and UCU have taken part in very useful joint ventures and
will continue to do so in 2013.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS TEAM
The Chair asked that his thanks be passed onto the BMA Assembly and Research Officer and Public
Affairs Officer for the weekly briefing reports provided. The report is a useful synopsis of assembly
business.