YOU AND YOURS


NEW DOCTOR | VOLUME 4 | ISSUE 2 | 2011 | UNITED KINGDOM www.mps.org.uk


© JODY KINGZETT/WWW.ZETTI.CO.UK


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You and yours


Report: BMA Junior Doctor’s conference Dr Darshan Brahmbhatt reports on what went on at the national event


held in London every year. It attracts trainees from across the UK, at varying levels of seniority from medical student to registrar. This year’s conference sparked some controversy with the title, “Striking back for juniors”, and the event itself certainly lived up to my expectations. Proceedings began a day


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before the conference itself, with a grassroots engagement day. As a first-time attendee, it was a helpful introduction to how the conference works. We even had the opportunity to choose our own topics for discussion: I was involved in formulating two motions that were passed through to the conference proper. This also provided an


he British Medical Association’s Junior Doctor’s Conference is


opportunity for delegates to meet and talk to the senior members of the BMA’s Junior Doctor’s Committee (JDC). The conference began


promptly at 10am with a moving motion in remembrance of two JDC members, who had lost their lives in the past year. The agenda then ramped up through the gears with several motions pillorying the NHS reforms included in the education and training White Paper: Developing the Healthcare Workforce. There was unanimous support for maintaining the postgraduate deanery structure as guardians of junior doctor training; the Health and Social Care Bill came in for criticism too, for its absurd plan to restructure public health and place it


outside the medical fold. There were breakout sessions, and further opportunities to develop motions to be placed on the agenda, before Dr Shree Datta, co-chairman of the JDC, developed a rousing speech. She spelt out problems inherent in proposals to form a “mega body”, Health Education England, which will hold the budget for training, but have no-one to answer to. Dr Datta also highlighted the problems with the conflict of interest between employers delivering training while also being required to make £20billion in cost savings. What struck me most was the outward-looking nature


of the conference, debating motions exploring the wider aspects of healthcare, such as improving patient safety and a speech from Dr Dai Samuels, which demanded consultant-delivered services in NHS hospitals. Although the conference


dealt with serious issues, it was also fun. There was even a joke motion calling for a subsidised dating service for junior doctors. I greatly enjoyed the


conference, and the dinner afterwards was a great chance to mingle with those at the forefront of junior doctor representation, spurring me on to get more involved. I’m definitely attending next year.


Dr Darshan H. Brahmbhatt is an academic clinical fellow in translational medicine and therapeutics at the University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.


Hot Topic: Snap happy


MPS Medicolegal Adviser Dr Chris Godeseth warns junior doctors to think before photographing patients


lenses, but amateurs with digital cameras and mobile phones. In clinical practice, too, digital photography is increasingly used to record diagnostic signs. It is clear that this has brought huge benefits both to patients and the doctors looking after them. Remote diagnosis, multidisciplinary case discussion and medical education have all been enhanced. Who can forget the pictures projected in lectures, whilst a senior colleague has demonstrated a peculiar clinical sign? The near ubiquity of digital cameras


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as a feature of mobile phones means that doctors can now take relatively high resolution images in acute situations, where historically they may not have been able to do so. Yet it is


he paparazzi attend most mess parties these days – perhaps not the professionals, with their telescopic


precisely this benefit of immediacy that poses potential difficulties. It is important to exercise caution


when deciding to take a photograph: just because it is possible, does not mean that it is good practice. Newspaper headlines, such as “Student photographed dead patient” highlight the potential pitfalls when an individual gets it wrong. The GMC recently issued updated guidance on this issue, clarifying the need for patient consent when obtaining clinical images. In general, whilst consent for the recording of X-rays, ultrasounds and laparoscopic images is usually implied (as part of the patient’s consent for the treatment or investigation itself), recordings from a mobile phone or digital camera should only be obtained after gaining the patient’s consent. It is important to consider the purpose


for which the photo is taken, bearing in mind that written consent is required in some circumstances. Other issues, such as how to store images securely, how to maintain the patient’s privacy, and how to ensure that images are transferred to the patient’s medical record, and of course, deleted securely from the camera, should also be considered. MPS is aware of cases where junior


doctors have got into difficulty in this area. It is sensible to become familiar with local trust guidelines, which may expand on GMC guidance. If you do find yourself in difficulty with your trust, or the GMC, you should contact MPS for expert medicolegal advice at the earliest opportunity. For more information see the


GMC’s latest guidance Making and Using Visual and Audio Recordings of Patients – www.gmc-uk.org


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