Dr Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what formal role Health Education England has played in his Department’s engagement and meetings with the BMA and other health care unions in developing the new proposed junior doctors and consultant contracts.
Ben Gummer
Health Education England (HEE) was not formally represented in negotiations: the two parties to the negotiations were employers (from each of the four United Kingdom countries) and the British Medical Association.
A Director of Postgraduate Hospital Training and a Director of Postgraduate GP Education were involved in negotiations, and remain involved with the development of a new contract. Whilst they are employees of HEE, their role has been to provide educational advice to the management side (employers) as representatives of the Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans (UK) and the Committee of General Practice Education Directors (UK). They have attended a range of meetings in that capacity, including the management side meetings and the negotiating meetings that took place roughly every fortnight from October 2013 to October 2014.
Representatives from HEE also attended other meetings where there were updates on contract reform, including NHS Employers’ quarterly Medical Workforce Forum; and other less formal meetings at which contract reform was discussed, including regular update meetings with the hon. Member, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department.
