Advice from BMA officials that doctors in non-consultant career grade posts should take a “softly softly” approach to developing their careers was met with short shrift from delegates at a conference held by the Royal College of Physicians on Tuesday. One delegate claimed that the posts were “racist” and that the people filling them were “slaves.”

“You are giving us details of how to behave as slaves,” said Omar El-Gaby, who trained in Egypt and came to England as a senior house officer, after listening to a session from a BMA advisor. Dr El-Gaby has been working in a non-consultant career grade rheumatology post in East Sussex for five years, with no prospect of career progression.

Such posts are advertised by NHS trusts to fill gaps in service provision, but are not part of the conventional medical careers structure and do …