Survey of consultants on the introduction of the new contract and associated matters: final report
December 2004
Introduction
To assist with its evidence to the 2005 round of the DDRB and to monitor the introduction of the new consultant contract, the CCSC asked the BMA Health Policy and Economic Research Unit (HPERU) to carry out a survey of consultants. The questionnaire was designed by HPERU and CCSC. It covers 4 main topics; the new contract; morale; vacancies; and plans for retirement. The survey was sent out to a random sample of 2,030 consultant members at the end of August 2004. This report presents the results from this survey. There were 925 replies which represents a response rate of 46% which is very satisfactory for surveys of this nature.
The sample was drawn from the whole UK BMA consultant membership and the same questionnaire was sent to all respondents although of course there are some slight variations, mostly in Wales, between the four countries in the new contracts introduced. This report presents results on a UK basis, but any notable variations in response between regions/countries are noted.