I think Dame Carole was indicating this too, this is why I ask why isn’t the BMA taking the role of speaking with a untied voice. Maybe it wasn.t a union before but it is now

And the Birmingham surgeons is a good model to be followed …
Did you notice, they said in the HSC that the Midlands deanery was overwhelmed with applications for reasons ‘they could not understand!’ ….. strange!

Although the BMA is a trade union, it didn’t used to have union status. Many doctors still see it as the place that produces the BMJ and somewhere to go for industrial relations advice if they are annoyed or get into trouble with their employer.

Also, medical committees tend to stay well within what they perceive is their “remit” and this stops them seeing the whole picture. I think this was what Dame Carol Black was trying to indicate.

The Birmingham surgeons demonstrated what can be done, and I think a small group of senior doctors (BMA, colleges and deaneries) could have made a move much earlier to stop MTAS in its tracks, whatever excuses are being given now. They wouldn’t have been “allowed” as such but could nevertheless have done it, but as you say, it would have taken unity and that was not forthcoming.

Your postings on the MMC commitees are great and will give readers excellent insight.

You think they would’ve been ‘allowed?’

I think this is the duty of any union, as well as uniting its members and presenting their views in one voice … Why isn’t it?

You need an Arther Scargil figure in there IMO

And, … my plodding is driven by wisdom; “ignorance is the mother of devotion” .. Well, at least I am still able to prove something …