BMA president clarifies his message

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7357.221

BMJ 2002;325:221 ( 27 July )

Letters

BMA president clarifies his message

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Linda Beecham's summary of my inaugural speech as president of the BMA (13 July, p 66) is efficient and fair.¹ Itdoes, however, contain one minor but importantmisrepresentation.

I did not describe a third of NHS care as "similar to medicine in the third world." My precise and carefully chosen wordswere: "Looking at the lowest third of NHS performance, we are,in terms of availability, verging on third world medicine, inwhat is one of the most affluent countries in the world." Thekey words were "availability" and "verging." I also said, "broadly,two thirds of NHS medicine is very good, or reasonably good,"and my major concern was for the very many patients who cannotget access to that care without lengthy and (to me) unacceptabledelays.

The separate issue of whether a president of the BMA should express such personal concerns is, I accept, a . . . [Full text of this article]