Moving to the new consultant contract
Joint BMA/Consultant Contract Implementation Team letter to consultants in England
13 January 2005
Dear Consultant
As we enter 2005, we are aware that most of those consultants who want to move on to the new contract in England have done so. However, there are some who wish to take up the contract who have not yet moved over.
Delays have occurred for a variety of reasons – mainly because of continuing discussions over job plans, but often just because of the sheer size of the task. Some consultants have been through the mediation process and this has resulted, as we had hoped, in compromise and agreement at local level. We know that other consultants are still involved in informal discussions and have yet to consider whether to use the formal mediation and appeal processes set out in the new Terms and Conditions of Service.
Whilst it is clearly preferable for any differences and difficulties to be resolved informally, we believe there should now have been sufficient time to allow such informal discussions to be completed. It is not, in our view, either in the interests of NHS employers or consultants for any outstanding disputes to carry on much longer. Further delay would extend unnecessarily the implementation phase, increase the administrative burden upon NHS employers and be frustrating for consultants.
For many consultants on the new contract, April 2005 will bring about job plan reviews and see decisions taken about pay progression, so it is important that initial job plans and back pay issues are resolved before such discussions take place. Additionally, NHS employers will want to streamline the job planning and appraisal processes to fit in with their commissioning timescales.
We are therefore urging any consultants and NHS employers who are still in dispute over job plans to make a determined effort to resolve outstanding differences as soon as practicable. The timescales set out for resolution should enable all outstanding disagreements to be addressed and we hope, in many cases, settled, by April 2005.
Implementing the new contract has not been without its challenges, but the revised arrangements unarguably contain significant benefits for patients, consultants and the NHS. It is now important that we all move forward in partnership to secure and deliver those benefits.
For those consultants who have not chosen to take up the contract during 2003/2004, the opportunity to transfer as per the final sentence of Schedule 13.3 of the Terms and Conditions remains open. Consultants wishing to take up the contract from a forward date should contact their HR department and their clinical director to initiate the job planning process.
Yours faithfully
Central Consultants and Specialists Committee (CCSC) and Consultant Contract Implementation Team (CCIT)