Doctors’ notes
Julie McDowall’s splendid piece for this site on call centres yesterday is causing something of a stir in the medical community today – social media is alive with shocked and disgusted doctors horrified or disbelieving at the news that their trade union, the British Medical Association, outsources its legal-advice helpline to a Serco call-centre and misleads members about its nature.
For those questioning the veracity of the claims, some references follow.
“The essentiagroup is a technology-based provider of information and advice services in the area of health and lifestyle management. They field over six million contacts per year and their clients include UK government departments, the British Medical Association and the Scottish Executive.”
Serco press release announcing acquisition of The Listening Company.
We trust that this eliminates any doubts.
(We also note with some concern that the company in question was hired by the coalition Labour/Lib Dem administration at Holyrood to provide services to the Scottish Executive – as it was then called – and apparently retained by the current SNP government. We’ll be looking into that.)
The downside of course is that this “something of a stir” could result in a lot of Scottish employees of this organisation losing their job and the work being brought “back in house” to London.
WoS – Shining the light into dark corners. Chapeau Sir.
“The downside of course is that this “something of a stir” could result in a lot of Scottish employees of this organisation losing their job and the work being brought “back in house” to London.”
…or an improvement in the conditions of the call-centre workers, as merely moving the work wouldn’t help because the same scrutiny would be placed on the new location. London isn’t any more local to a doctor in Manchester than Glasgow is.
I don’t imagine they’d be any worse off if they did lose their jobs tbh…
It would seem that some doctors dont beleive this story,and that they think it is some kind of nationalist smear campaign,it would seem that these highly educated doctors can be foolish too.
So we just keep quiet. That’s could be known as the biblical passing by on the other side of the street
That piece was so good I just KNEW something would happen off the back of it. These Doctors will get “the arse” about it and they will get something done about it, probably.
I worked for BT in the 999/Directory Enquiries call centre for a while and the conditions were pretty much the same, except for the zero hours part.
Good on you Julie.
David I am not suggesting we should keep quiet, I am merely expressing what I think is a valid possibility.
Nor do I think jobs at any price, the reality is if the London MSM run with this and kick up a stooshie the very real possibility of a knee jerk BMA may be to relocate the jobs to the centre of civilisation in good old London.
In the case of the Uk all roads lead to London, everywhere else in the Europe never mind Scotchland is primitive and not a patch on the utopia that is London.
BMA members should be disgusted at the cheap way their union principles are being abused in the name of saving a few quid (from probably one of the wealthiest unions around) and also that the members pay part of their union dues towards legal advice to be given by legal professionals. This is plainly not the case. I once worked in an out sourced dept of a major union and we certainly were not treated any less equal than the union staff. For a union to do otherwise is sheer two faced hypocrisy of the highest order. It should be a first principle that if union work is outsourced it should contain the provisio that no zero hour contracts are used and staff conditions meet a certain standard. It could also be argued that this is the type of core work of a union that should not be outsourced, unless to a real law firm.
As regards the possibility of the work being moved. I presume there is a contract with the usual penalities for cancellation. So the BMA would probably have to talk with SERCO about re arranging the terms of the contract which would be cheaper than cancelling and setting up a new tendering excercise. Any talk of the possibility of job losses is pure speculation and ‘whataboutery’ and has no basis in reality. Can anyone remember any similar cases?
The vast majority of Unions ,just like the Labour Party abandoned their members and supporters years ago and joined the establishment.
My views on Unions altered dramatically the day Vic Feather(showing my age here) took up the ermine robe.
Many have since joined him in becoming part of the problem and no longer the solution.
Even today in our pursuit of Independence offering a socially eqal anf fairer society does not enthuse the majority of the so called Left leaning Unions.
They cling on to the right wing policies and actions of the supposed Workers Labour party.
I think all this is against the mantra of the SG, I think they should comment on it at the very least. I do not mean with intention to knock the SG, just that these are practices that they are unlikely to have known about.
Ah Serco. In my industry the company just seemed to “spring up”, and I wondered who were behind Serco and why so quickly successful in for example,facilities management, then noting a Serco sign on the fence at the arms depot near Beith, at Coulport(?). And ferry provision to the Isles? I look forward to your search, and ideally to identify the major stakeholders. Gut feeling that Uncle Sam is involved.
It would not surprise me if the hypocritical Ms Lamont tried using this piece as a stick to beat the FM on Thursday.
The fact that it was the Labour Government that brought the Serco jobs to Scotland in the first place is of no consequence.
She will make the smear and the Scottish MSM will do an Admiral Lord Nelson with the reality and push the smear against the vile dishonest Salmond.
It is as sickening as the plight of the poor Serco workers.
Insofar, there hasn’t been a report of this in the Scottish media:
link to telegraph.co.uk
“Mr Brown said Air Passenger Duty (APD), paid by all air passengers travelling from a British airport, including inbound tourists on their flight home, was hindering the economy, and would be cut by 50 per cent in Scotland, with a view to abolishing it altogether”
Surely the point is these type of jobs are fine short term until something better comes up – certainly better than working for nothing stacking shelves in Poundstretcher curtesy of IDS. Having been in that particular job for eight years I can see why the author feels cause to complain though she obviously felt at the time it was better than the alternative.
@Rod Mac
This argument is the same as the shipbuilding jobs stuff.
Perhaps we should let it happen and we have more highly motivated ground troops for Yes.
Sorry Rev but OT.
I have just received the most bland ,patronising guff by way of a response to my Wright Stuff complaint against Madeley ,Ancona , some bloke and a blonde bimbo.
I went back to view the piece on youtube and am now beside myself with rage.
“I have just received the most bland ,patronising guff by way of a response to my Wright Stuff complaint “
Do share.
Serco are advertising for a helpline adviser (BMA) in Glasgow at the moment.
link to jobsavailableuk.com
For me, this story shows the power that WoS now has – bet you wouldn’t have got this reaction even 6 months ago. Here’s to more exponential growth !
“We also note with some concern that the company in question was hired by the coalition Labour/Lib Dem administration at Holyrood to provide services to the Scottish Executive – as it was then called “–
Sorry, have to correct you. Brian Donohoe, Labour MP for central Ayrshire always refers in his regular press releases in the Ayrshire Post ( 3 – 4 on average each week) to the Scottish Executive. He seems to believe that the Executive still exists and is prepared to work with the Executive on whatever issue catches his fancy. I just hope his letters are returned as ” recipient unknown”
This story is definitely getting a reaction. I just saw this tweet, vaguely assuming you’d re-tweeted it, then realised it’s my work account I’m looking at
Mary Church ?@zetadoc 7m
@mgtmccartney @TheBMA Allegations in article extremely serious Treasurer visiting premises early nxt wk to check out link to bit.ly
Retweeted by margaretmccartney
Frankly, I am disappointed in the BMA, have been for a while. When I once had to call on their services (2007) they were very helpful indeed. When my wife did in 2011, they were worse than useless.
This just makes me angry. Our profession should be all about care and compassion – this isn’t it.
BMA reponds. Sort of.
link to web2.bma.org.uk
Rev , sorry I am late,
To: ‘dorothy devine’
From:
Vieweradvisor (Vieweradvisor@five.tv)
Sent:
11 December 2013 10:12:34
To:
‘dorothy devine’ (devinedorothy@hotmail.co.uk)
Your Reference: VA/996318/IK/C3F (Please quote this reference in all further correspondence)
Date: 11th December 2013
Dear D A Devine
Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding The Wright Stuff.
We were sorry to read you were unhappy with the discussion on Scottish Independence in the 27th November episode. We are acutely aware that this is an issue viewers in Scotland and the rest of the UK have very strong opinions on.
If you are a regular viewer of the programme, you will know that it engages in robust debate. Sometimes panellists express views that are controversial and audience members and viewers will disagree with some of the views voiced during those debates. As a topical discussion show, we feel it is important that the programme airs a range of views. In this particular discussion the panellists expressed their personal views during the segment and behind the scenes the programme endeavoured to select as many callers as possible who expressed both pro-Independence and pro-Union viewpoints. We believe that a range of viewpoints were expressed during the entire course of the programme.
We are sorry if you feel the discussion didn’t address all the relevant points regarding the issue of Scottish Independence. With this in mind, you will be reassured to know that the question of Scottish Independence is one that the programme plans to take very seriously in the run-up to the referendum. The production team is already putting in place plans to ensure that knowledgeable panellists are featured from across the spectrum voicing arguments both for and against an Independent Scotland.
Nevertheless, we are grateful to you for taking the time to make us aware of your concerns and your complaint on the discussion has been noted for the attention of all relevant personnel.
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Ian
VIEWER ADVISOR
Nice to know they are going to take it seriously eh?
@kalmar
That reads like a typical “non-denial, denial” to me. carefully worded to sound like they are aware of and have monitored the situation, but carefully avoids a direct comment.
So, the story’s true then.
Love the bit about how next time they will have knowledgeable panellists!
The ship I’m working on is Serco managed and there’s a real danger that our vessel could harm us or someone else due to the way its being run into the ground. Serco management haven’t a clue about the specific needs that merchant seamen have. I sleep with my life jacket nearby.
Aye Andrew , and where are they going to find them?
Bet they invite Darling or Cochrane or someone of that ilk!
The “response” from the BMA is disingenuous. It’s technically correct that the contract is zero hours as it’s a guaranteed minimum hours contract of around 300 hours per annum. As this works out at about 7 or 8 weeks work out of 52, it is, in practice, a zero hours contract. Why tell the truth when you can spin a lie?