How the GMC spends our money
All doctors in the UK have to be registered with the GMC.
The GMC currently charges each doctor £390 a year for full registration. According to the GMC there are 232,220 registered doctors in the UK.
232,220 x £390 = £90,565,800Wow! That’s a lotta dosh. How does the GMC manage to spend nearly £2 million a week? I am grateful to an angry NHS BLOG DOCTOR reader who has pointed me towards the answer. You can find it on the GMC website under the title
Why work for the GMC?Lots of reasons it would seem. Huge salaries and an indexed linked final salary pension. Index linked not just to the cost of living, but to GMC salaries. Wow! I must get Wat Tyler to provide a costing for purchasing such a pension on the open market. But what makes the NHS BLOG DOCTOR commentator really angry, is this:
Free Private Medical InsurancePrevious medical conditions are covered under the scheme? What kind of premium do you have to pay to insure your house once the fire had started?
All GMC staff are eligible to join the private medical insurance scheme. The GMC has opted for AXA PPP's Corporate Health Plan - Cover Level 2. This is a top of the range plan which includes:Previous medical conditions are covered under the scheme.
- comprehensive cover for in and out patient services
- a stress counselling service
- a health information line
The GMC will pay the cost of the premium for your private medical insurance.
Why work for the GMC?
Having stuffed their faces with roast swan and swilled their 1961 clarets, our masters at the GMC must be relieved to know that they can have their heart attacks in a private, HCP free hospital, rather than having to mix it with the common folk in an NHS hospital.
Labels: fat cats, GMC, rip offs, supporting the NHS, the trough
34 Comments:
Don't worry. Roll with it.
The reckoning in court is coming soon.
Do you object to any NHS doc using private health care for himself or his family?
Dr C
youre barking up the wrong tree on this one
competitive employers out in the real world have to compete for the staff the same way they have to compete for customers
the offer different T & C's thats comeptition
this is normal and healthy
you trying to impose flat pay and conditions across the board will lead to a societ style state which doesnt work
not the GMC presumably wants decent staff and is trying to compete for them, why not
and corporate medical insurance 50/50 covers pre existing conditions, it isnt always that bad a risk for the insurance company especially for companies that tend to hire young healthy folk, so it can be quite a good deal for the insurance company at the big picture level, sort of similar to company car insurance its being averaged over enough people to make it viable and not too expensive
so a whole host of misconceptions you have
and yes it proves how crap the nhs is because many employees expect and demand health cover from their employers nowadays
i am surprised you are surprised i thought you knew all this stuff
I'm not surprised at all, no one, and I am not barking up the wrong tree. As always, maybe a little barking in the more general sense!
No, I just find it depressing that the NHS is now so bad that employers feel they have to offer this sort of cover routinely. And, by the way, most employers do not offer this level of cover. What is more - and I know this from patients - many companies are now cutting back on freebies like this.
When I started in medicine, you really could say to people that private health care was not essential. I do not think that is true anymore, and I hate that.
Of course, the largest UK employer, the state, does not offer cover like this. Doctors don't have it; they may be able to afford to pay for it themselves. Nurses can't. Teachers can't. And so on.
Have we really reached the stage that no private company can attract good employees without offering them BUPA?
There is something particularly and gallingly ironic that the GMC is offering it. You must see that. How can one interpret this other than by saying that the GMC recoginises that the NHS is crap?
Wuff! Wuff!
John
1 its not a freebie i earn my medical cover its just an alternate to extra money
2 vast majority of professional grade staff in the private sector get medical cover
3 many companies are trying to reduce bonus, reduce pension contributions and no doubt reduce medical cover, even reduce base pay, all this is fine in a competitive environment where the employees can move and that dynamic force is the balance
4 personal view is employees value this benefit and its unlikely to suffer the axe
5 many nurses and teachers have cover as the spouse of an insured on the husbands corporate scheme - you would be surprised the vast numbers involved here
yep we reached that stage ages ago you cannot attract staff without medical cover
the nhs is that crap get used to it
Ah! No one! Always just a refreshing torrent of ice cold water poured over my health care fantasies.
Yep, the NHS is being run down
No, I will never get used to it because I am committed to everyone in this country having a reasonable standard of health care independent of means and status and it pisses me off to see the fat cats skimming off the cream of health care leaving the riff raff to manage as best they can.
It does not have to be like this. If we cannot restore the NHS to a state that means that all will be comfortable to use it, it is done for. It's happened with education. Scrap the grammar schools. The well heeled middle class decamp to the private sector and the comprehensives degenerate into educational toilets. State education will never recover until the middle class start using it again. It is the same with health care
John
And no one. You did not mention the elephant in the room.
Question 1 : Write all you know on how the GMC spends £2 million a week.
John
I totally agree with you, Crips (is it OK to call you Crips?).
It would be like saying to Beeb employees that one of the fringe benefits is a free Sky cable subscription or something.. Just doesn't sound right.
Has Crippen ever wondered how much the GMC is spending on persecuting Andrew Wakefield and Professors Walker-Smith and Murch? Does Crippen think that the nation's doctors are getting value for their money?
if you want a colonoscopy or your breasts enlarged or your hip replaced or your gall bladder removed; great! go private and it will be much much better for you.
an elective private clinic wont have an MRSA positive leg ulcer in the bed next to yours! nor will it have the ridiculous staffing ratio of one nurse per 15 patients!
If i can afford it i certainly would!!! but not all private clinics can deal with the critically ill. if you get sick in a private hospital......they will need to blue light you to the nearest NHS hospital ASAP. this system works well. it should be encouraged.
I have a rare condition, I am treated very well in the NHS now after 15 years of fighting.
Private medical insurance would be of no use in any employment as simply they would blue light me!
But as far as employment goes what benefits one gets in London are an attractive enticement to work there as well as
- competitive holidays
- final salary pensions
There is a downside though - salaries aren't as high as in the City - you have to be competitive to get the best.
In the current market place, the NHS has pretty good terms and conditions including
- 33 days holiday
- final salary pension
- 1 year of sick (many people abuse that). No company can afford that.
- regular pay reviews
- flexible working
And the NHS staff don't have PDPs, 360 degree feedback etc!
Back in the 1970s when my husband registered the annual fee was £25.
Now, as you have pointed out, it is £390 and is,as always, mandatory. The GMC seem to spend their time failing to prevent truly bad or dangerous doctors (Shipman), at the same time as persecuting those who question the system on behalf of their real masters (NuLabour).
I can't say that I can see how they have earned that 1,560% increase in the fees during the last 30 years. But I can certainly see how they are spending it.
At least they are consistent; they show the same disdain for the NHS as they do for the doctors who work there.
How much was your husband earning at the time?
Considerably less than today..... it is 2009 and they have to be competitive. Plus having Private Medical Insurance also means less time off sick because they are seen sooner.
Maybe one should ask how much is spent
- on lawyers fees
- on pointless cases (some of which should have lost in the 1st place)
- posh lunches
- taxi fares
- 1st class rail fares
- meeting rooms (posh), conferences
Anonymous of Saturday, March 14, 2009 1:05:00 PM
Er, perhaps showing your ignorance there my friend. We do have 260 dergree appraisals and more. I have to ask the cleaners to assess my medical skills.
1 year of sick? I wish. If I make it to retiemenent age. I am highly likely to be dead within 6 months. If i reture at 60 then I will last possibly 5 years and If I retire at 55 I get a normal life expectancy. This is the reality of the working environemt in the NHS.
It probably is not all cookies and cream inthe NHS. That point is just for docs. Think how crap the nurses have it.
Dr Sniper
Oh and the GMC publishes a very nice quaterly glossy mag (3 pages or so). Publishing is expensive these days you know.
GMC, BMA snouts and troughs. Dr C has the picture just right
Dr Sniper
Crap 360 not 260. Apologies
Dr Sniper
I have to say disagree.
Two colleagues of sick near on a year - terms and conditions of contract - 6 months full pay, 6 months half pay then off on holiday. Can't advertise the job because of red tape even though not going to come back.
Hospital currently paying temp x 2, permanent staff and then were paying relief. Now paying 'relief' unqualified and inexperienced, can't advertise.
Advertising jobs - not filling them - expense incurred.
Colleagues haven't a clue what 360 degree feedback is - normal in outside world even for admin staff. Never had a PDP in five years!
Re "I am committed to everyone in this country having a reasonable standard of health care independent of means and status" fantasy in this country I am afraid, especially so if you live in an inner city or similar where even the rich get shit treatment in this country, indeed worse treatment is handed out by the nhs to those holding down jobs than to folk who are jobless quite often cos thats the way the nhs system is unbalanced
Re "The well heeled middle class decamp to the private sector and the comprehensives degenerate into educational toilets" actually school selection at the moment is mostly based on postcode, whether you can get into a good state school or not mainly depends on the postcode your parents can afford to live in, meaning that anyone with kids about to join school needs to find an address near the better schools whether that means buying and inflated prices in the area, claiming to live at a friends address or even renting a flat for no other purpose than getting on the right school roll, of course working class parents hardly ever do this and we perpetuate divide, the middle classes are largely still in the state sector in schools just in the right catchment areas!
Re "the middle class start using it again" well the middle class do use the nhs, if they take some time off between jobs and have a gap of medical cover, when they see a GP (usually), if they have something UK standard medical cover doesnt cover such as pregnancy, A & E, and some use the NHS even though they have medical insurance just cos of a sort of misguided loyalty
but i tell you as someone who has seen more of the customer face of the nhs than you the nhs is top to bottom shit shit shit
sorry but thats the way it is
re your question not got time sorry may get to it one day next week we will see
And the NHS staff don't have PDPs, 360 degree feedback etc!
***************
I am responsible for about 90 doctors. They all have multisource feedback which is a form of 360 degree appraisal. In addition they are scored on case-based discussions, miniclinical evaluation exercises and directly observed procedural skills. This is all recorded in an NHS eportfolio which their supervisors can access. If anybody doesn't believe me try googling eportfolio.
Oh and they have PDPs too.
yea dr grumble but youre fairly obviously doing a better job than many of your peers?
Private medical insurance WAS common in the private sector. It is much rarer now.
£390 per year? Ouch! I thought the Royal Society of Chemistry was dear (about £100). Then again, it isn't mandatory.
Why does the GMC need to have its main base in London? It may need a London office to enable it to liaise with government departments, but much of it could be moved elsewhere. Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle all have plenty of excellent admin staff available who would work for lower wages, not to mention office space being considerably cheaper.
Still can't see how the GMC needs to spend £2M per week. Do they have David Beckham & co as advisors?
Professor Sir Roy Meadow and Professor David Southall have both cost doctors dear ... via the GMC and way beyond. Does Crippen think these errant folk have been worth the price paid?
No One, of course you might have private health cover but be in hospital and need the NHS 'til the private company chooses to open, in office hours.
"yea dr grumble but youre fairly obviously doing a better job than many of your peers?"
Hardly, all this crap is compulsory for doctors.
shrink
dunno depends
certainly out of hours cover is poor in the uk in the private sector but its fine elsewhere in the world, it just needs more real competition
and we have had good out of hours post op care in the private sector the consultant came straight round from his evening meal something that wouldnt happen in the nhs
Dr Grumble
***************
I am responsible for about 90 doctors. They all have multisource feedback which is a form of 360 degree appraisal. In addition they are scored on case-based discussions, miniclinical evaluation exercises and directly observed procedural skills. This is all recorded in an NHS eportfolio which their supervisors can access. If anybody doesn't believe me try googling eportfolio.
Wow!. That's a full-time job in itself!!
How much does that cost!
Anyhow, I suppose you know the answers because you are so used to doing them!!
Rather like Shrinks and the DMSIV criteria. I suppose we will all need one of them some day and xx xxx is no different. !
But anyhow I would love to see their 360 degree feedback from those that have been harassed by them.....
And that doctor case that is on another site which I can't quite remember the name of... I just wonder how much that cost.
The one thing the GMC are thick.
Freedom of Information request perhaps, Dr C?
If you do I'd be VERY interested...
I think you medics have it easy, i pay £438 to the GDC (who apparently spend £100 per registrant per year on not removing my name from the list- their own figures) Before we get any anti dentist comments i'm on point 1 of the F1 pay scale.
I think the main problem with our regulatory bodies is that they are government quangos, which we are forced to pay for, not only do we have an appointed committee but the leader of that appointed committee has just used the GDC as a steping stone to bigger and better things.
What's the point of the GMC? They sound like a bunch of cronies that Dr Speedy calls "GOBSARTs" (Good old boys sat around a table). All they seem to do is start a witch hunt against the Drs which the patients have the most respect for.
They seem so heavily entrenched in that closing ranks mentality when it comes to protecting their own cronies that I don't think they're competent to protect the public from another Harold Shipman- especially if Dr Shipman #2 is smart enough to butter them up.
Neelu
"Case against Dr Andrew Wakefield, who linked MMR and autism, to cost over £1m"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk:80/tol/life_and_style/health/article5913324.ece
More than a million quid!! Is this doctors' money well spent? Are you happy to be a co-sponsor of a trial that has taken nearly three years to complete. What do you think, Dr Crippen?
Why did Finlay Scott get a CBE?
http://www.generalmedicalcouncil.com/2009/01/finlay-scott-clown-of-british-empire.html
Is Finlay Scott worth it ... or is he simply a waste of space and doctor's money? What do you think, Dr Crippen?
".......and an indexed linked final salary pension. Index linked not just to the cost of living, but to GMC salaries. Wow! I must get Wat Tyler to provide a costing for purchasing such a pension on the open market."
I'm afraid you misinterpreted this one, Dr C. The exact wording in the ad simply states:
"The benefits under the Scheme are linked to Salary at the time of leaving so that all benefits keep up with salary increases and career progression."....in other words, a common or garden final salary scheme, meaning that all benefits are based on final salary.
Personally I think the Royal Free Hospital should have held a full and open independent enquiry into "St Andy" Wakefield several years ago on the grounds of suspected academic fraud. There was even a case for a public enquiry headed by, say, a judge, given:
(i) the potentially serious consequences of Wakefield's alleged fraud for public health in the UK, and
(ii) the fact that the GMC investigation does NOT have any real powers to compel people to answer or cooperate, despite the various QCs trousering large fees.
However, given the serious nature of the charges (unnecessary and invasive investigations performed on sometimes seriously unwell autistic children), how could the GMC not have investigated?
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