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How a trade union turned against one junior doctor and his landmark whistleblowing case?

On the 16 March 2018, Dr Chris Day was sent an apology by the BMA relating to something that the former BMA Chair, Dr Mark Porter told BMA Council about his whistleblowing case at a November 2016 Council meeting. It was marked ‘Confidential’ and Dr Day was told not to share it by the BMA.

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Dr Day tweeted the fact the BMA had offered an apology for what Dr Porter told BMA Council about his case. Dr Day also made clear that he was being prevented from sharing the BMA apology.

On the evening of Sunday 25 March the BMA updated their ‘FAQs on whistleblowing’ to include misleading and damaging statements about Dr Day.

The updated FAQs were shared on social media and endorsed by two of the Chief Officers of the BMA and senior members of the Junior Doctors Committee.

Dr Chris Day’s legal team have written to the BMA to ask that they update their FAQs to be reflective of what Dr Porter actually said to BMA Council about Dr Day’s whistleblowing case and to remove the misleading statements . Although the BMA have made some minor changes they have still chosen not to be honest about what Dr Porter told BMA Council about the Day case. The letter from Dr Day’s lawyers makes clear that a transcript of the relevant parts of the BMA Council meeting will be published if the requests in the letter are not actioned. 

http://54000doctors.org/letters/legal-letter-challenging-false-statements-from-the-bma-about-dr-days-whistleblowing-case.html

We have taken the decision to publish a transcript of the relevant parts of the Council meeting. If the transcript is disputed by the BMA we will publish the audio of the Council meeting that was leaked out of the BMA from an anonymous email address and sent to 54000Doctors. 

Last year, Dr Day sent a letter to the Junior Doctors Committee Chair and Deputy Chair of BMA Council. The letter contains the relevant part of the transcript of the November 2016 BMA Council meeting including what Dr Porter was asked about the Day case and Dr Porter’s response. It also contains the findings of the Legal Ombudsman in the Day case and an excerpt from an email from the Legal Ombudsman responding to what Dr Porter told BMA Council about their investigation. Dr Day’s letter makes clear requests for BMA Council and the JDC Chair to investigate and act. The letter was ignored by the JDC Chair and BMA Council.

From the transcript it is clear that when Dr Porter was asked by Council about the following;

• ‍The BMA’s withdrawal of support from the Day case days before a deadline after an initially positive merits assessment;
• ‍An allegation that the BMA lost/destroyed the trade union record of a formal investigation meeting;
• ‍The alleged gagging and dismissal of Dr Day’s Senior Industrial Relations Officer. 

Dr Porter falsely claimed that the Legal Ombudsman had investigated and exonerated the BMA on these matters. Further false statements are also quite clear from Dr Porter on the actual findings of the Legal Ombudsman. It should be noted that  Dr Porter’s false statements are endorsed by the BMA lawyer present. 

The letter is published below: