Your BMA: a magazine with clout
As The Doctor goes fully digital, I would like to celebrate some of its achievements so far
The first issue of this magazine landed on members’ doorsteps in September, 2018. It included in-depth features looking at the effects of Brexit on health and the medical profession, bullying in our workplaces and a series called They come here, which shone a light on the ‘incalculable benefits’ immigrant doctors bring to the NHS and society.
Ever since that first edition – you are now reading the 73rd – The Doctor has sought to buck the often-overwhelming trends of clickbait and shallowness in the media and investigate the issues which matter most to our profession in great detail, placing doctors at the very heart of that storytelling and the debate. As your current chair of the BMA representative body this has meant an awful lot to me and I know it has been important to so many of you too because you’ve reached out me.
The magazine has been a phenomenal success by any measure. Its writers have won numerous national awards – often competing with national news titles and organisations with huge budgets and staff rosters. Just last year two of our writers, Ben Ireland and Peter Blackburn, won a British Journalism Award and Mr Blackburn has been shortlisted again this year. Seren Boyd won and Jennifer Trueland was shortlisted for the MJAs (Medical Journalism Awards) – and these accolades are not unusual. The work of our team has been a powerful tool in advocating for medical students and doctors and increasing the external influence of the BMA, too, with our investigations featured across the wider media and having significant influence across the health landscape, and even in Parliament.
Next month’s issue of the magazine, the 74th, will be the final publication in this iteration as we move to our new online home. While it will be sad to see the print edition of the magazine cease, I am tremendously proud of everything the team has achieved in that medium and I know they will go on telling the stories of our members and profession – and investigating the issues which affect our lives – with the same commitment and dedication.
For my last two Your BMA columns in this issue of The Doctor and the next I would like to celebrate some of the brilliant work the team has done amplifying our voices – so I will be reflecting on some of my favourite pieces and investigations.
I have often been most proud of the magazine for offering an outlet where medical students and doctors can speak about the most difficult of issues – often these are things we find it incredibly hard to talk about across society or where it doesn’t always feel there is another safe space, and this magazine has been that place.
One that particularly springs to mind was in the piece ‘For Alastair’s sake’, which was recognised at the MJAs last year. It told the story of GP Ruth Watt’s dogged attempts to find answers over the death of her husband, Alastair Watt, a diabetes and endocrinology consultant in north Devon who took his own life.
He was struggling to cope as a single-handed consultant even before he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a cycling accident but, on his return to work, work-related stress became intolerable and, Ruth insists, was never addressed. It was important to give a voice to Ruth who said: ‘We have to start talking openly about what happens when things go wrong, so lessons can be learnt.’
Another memorable piece was ‘Fallen friend’ where the colleagues of GP Louise Tebboth who died by suicide spoke movingly about having to carry on working as normal despite their intense grief over her death – and about coming to terms with their loss.
Other examples of The Doctor being this safe space for members and grassroots doctors were in recent work about sexism in surgery, the pieces lobbying for better support for doctors under NHS and GMC investigation – not least following the tragic death of consultant anaesthetist Sridharan Suresh – and in our work reflecting on the lives of the doctors who died fighting COVID-19.
In the next issue of the magazine, I will be looking back at more of the magazine’s investigations and campaigns – among other work – to date.
As ever, I am always happy to hear from you and any questions you might have. To get in touch please write to me at RBChair@bma.org.uk or @DrLatifaPatel
Dr Latifa Patel is chair of the BMA representative body
