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MSC News Update – for medical students
January/February 2007
This short update gives you some information about the issues the Medical Students Committee is currently taking forward on your behalf. You can find other updates at www.bma.org.uk/students
British National Formulary (BNF)
The Department of Health has made a decision recently to remove funding to provide medical students with a free copy of the British National Formulary. We have written to the Department to let them know we have serious concerns about the consequences of their decision. The BNF is a vital educational resource for medical students and is used by students to develop their knowledge and skills before taking on clinical the responsibility. We are finding it very difficult to understand the reasoning behind the decision to remove funding. Our concerns are shared by medical academics who believe it will increase difficulty of teaching and that removing funding is a short term measure which will save very little money. We are waiting for a response to our letter and will keep you posted.
Review of the Bursary Scheme
We have been involved in discussions on changes to the Bursary Scheme which have now been agreed by the Department of Health. The changes will come into effect for new entrants to courses from September 2007.
The older students allowance has been removed because of age discrimination legislation which came into effect last year. As a result, being aged over 25 will no longer be one of the conditions to determine if a medical student is independent of their parents. The money that had been available for this has been redistributed into the bursary and we wanted to ensure the money was as fairly distributed as possible. There are other issues that need to be dealt with in the bursary and will be working with other unions and the Department of Health to address these. For more information see our website at www.bma.org.uk/students
and look under ‘medical student finance’.
Medical School
The GMC education committee and the Council of Heads of Medical Schools (CHMS) have developed draft guidance for medical schools and students on Fitness to Practise. We will be responding to the consultation, which runs to 10 April. You can see the consultation at https://gmc.e-consultation.net/education
Our own position paper on student fitness to practise can be found at:
http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/studentftppp?OpenDocument&login
International Medical Students
We are still encouraging all students to write to their MP with their concerns about the impact of the immigration rules on IMS, asking MPs to raise a parliamentary question and/or write to the Department of Health or Home Office to ask what steps are being taken to deal with the concerns. For further information about this visit our website at www.bma.org.uk/students BMA members also have the option to log onto this link to contact their MP:
http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/immigrationrules?OpenDocument&login
Focus on…
These are short guidance documents we have put together for you to give you a brief introduction to various issues and what we are doing for you. Available so far are:
Focus on… Medical School Charter
Focus on…Foundation Programme Applications (MTAS)
More are planned so watch this space.
Look out for..
Foundation Programme survey – how did the application process work for you and what were the problems. Coming out in February.
Finance survey – coming out in March with StudentBMJ
Welfare & Education survey – later this year
Its important to us to have your views about all aspects of your life as a medical student so that we can make sure we are representing you fully. Information from our surveys are hugely helpful when we make representations on your behalf to Government and others. Please look out for these surveys and complete and return them.
More information about MSC
For further information visit our website at www.bma.org.uk/students
Help and advice
If you have any enquiries about any of the issues in this newsletter, contact your MSC representative and your ISC Chair. Details can be found on our website at
www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/Hubmeetyourmedicalstudentrep?OpenDocument&Login
You can also contact the MSC office on:
AskBMA
For advice and support, BMA members can also contact AskBMA (tel: 0870 60 60 828, email: anytime from 8.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday (except UK-wide bank holidays).
Medical Students Committee
BMA
January 2007