Taking its direction from the Annual Representatives Meeting and with due regard to the position and political environment of members in each of the UK countries, UK Council (as the principle executive committee of the professional association and trade union) is responsible for approving and supporting the delivery of the BMA Strategy on behalf of BMA members.
The strategy is built on four priorities:
- membership density growth –focussing on increasing the proportion of doctors who are members by empowering members to act collectively
- representing the profession – ensuring members are well represented nationally, locally and individually
- external influencing – leading the debate on behalf of our profession on the issues that matter most
- running the BMA - building an effective, sustainable professional association and trade union, with a supportive culture for members and staff alike.
Membership density
We want as many medical students and doctors as possible to be members of the BMA. We have been working hard to ensure that the BMA is relevant to you at a national, local and individual level.
This year’s successes include:
- A 14% increase in membership income
- Our highest ever membership figures, reaching over 50% density for the majority of doctor workforces, with resident doctors currently at 80%
- The introduction of our ‘doctors new to the UK’ support, which has helped increase our IMG representation to ~40%
- Reversing the trend in our GP partner membership, which has increased by several thousand members in recent months.
Our goal is to increase the proportion of UK doctors who are members of the BMA. We are stronger together.- BMA membership services
We currently have over 190,000 members.
Representing our members
We are determined to act upon the concerns of our profession to achieve the best possible outcomes, both individually and collectively, as a strong trade union. In order to support this, we have invested in a restructure of our Member Relations Directorate (England) into regional teams and bringing our UK-wide First Point of Contact service in-house.
This year’s successes include:
- Record turnouts at ballots and rallies across the UK
- Numerous & impactful periods of industrial action across nations and branches of practice
- Various campaigns across the UK to address the ongoing crisis in general practice
- Accepted pay deals for resident doctors in Scotland and consultants and SAS doctors in England
- Consultation on potential deals for Welsh resident doctors, Welsh SAS doctors and Welsh consultants
- Welcomed over 600 members to our Annual Representatives Meeting 2023 in Liverpool (please make penultimate bullet in representing our members section)
- We supported over 63,000 individual cases in 2023.
My BMA employment adviser was excellent…Where I felt powerless, she gave me back my authority, with her encouragement and knowledge enabling me to take ownership of the situation. The issue has now been resolved and it’s a massive weight off my shoulders, I am eternally grateful.- BMA member
We have won over £2m for members this year
External influencing
We are committed to be the leading voice of our profession on the issues that matter most to members. As a professional association, we use our influence to maintain the honour and interests of the medical profession, improve global healthcare policy and ensure the right environment in which high quality healthcare can be delivered to patients across the UK.
Patients should always know who is treating them and when this is – and is not – a medically qualified doctor.- BMA MAPs report
This year’s successes include:
- Our high-profile campaign on Medical Associate Professions/Physician Associates, which included our scope of practice and supervision guidance
- Ensuring that doctors’ experiences during the pandemic are heard at the UK COVID Inquiry and that lessons are learned to protect members and public health in the future
- Continuing to lobby for a fairer, more equal and more inclusive NHS, including the launch of our Ending Sexism in Medicine Pledge
- Informing ongoing debates about Physician Assisted Dying and vaping
- Launching our online core ethics guidance hub to make information more easily accessible to members
- Increasing our influence internationally.
It is essential for the Inquiry to make recommendations that will reduce the impact of a future pandemic on healthcare staff, including ensuring that staff are protected against risks and that unequal impacts are prevented and mitigated.- UK COVID inquiry report
Running the BMA
We want the BMA to be there for its members and staff for years to come, so we are working hard to build a sustainable organisation with a supportive culture that is fit for the future. We are determined to restore the finances of the Association to return to break even by end of 2026. This will then allow us to invest dividend income from group companies back into member priorities. For further information on the BMA Group’s financial position please see the Treasurer update for 2023.
This pie chart illustrates the BMA's budget and the breakdown of how it is spent to support members.
This year’s successes include:
- Ongoing management and delivery of the BMA strike fund, supporting members to participate in 14 separate strikes since April 2023
- Financial support for pay restoration campaigning across the UK, now totalling £7m
- Good progress on year two of our five-year Recovery Programme to financial sustainability; embedding over £2.5m of recurring savings to protect against the impact of inflation on the Association
- The introduction of a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to streamline our support and enable a better service to members
- Environmental sustainability: We continue to upgrade the lighting across BMA House into to LED lighting and maximise the efficiency of our occupied spaces. Our BMA House venue menus are now 60% vegan/vegetarian
- Meeting 94% of the Romney review recommendations and beginning to address the recommendations of Ms Ijeoma Omambala KC’s review of BMA services support to minority ethnic members.
CIIG (Culture Inclusion Implementation Group) recommendations - Crowe are the BMA's auditors
I’m really, really grateful for the strike fund, it’s the main reason I’ve been able to take part in the action every month.– Dr Jess Speller, Resident Doctor
Thank you
Thank you for reading the impact report.
The BMA is its members and you are at the heart of the BMA Strategy, which has been co-created in partnership with BMA elected members and staff.
We’d like to hear your feedback on anything you’ve read in this report, and/or what you’d like to see feature in the strategy in the future.
Please do contact us.
PICTURED L-R, T-B: Latifa Patel (Chair of RB), Phil Banfield (Chair of Council), Emma Runswick (deputy Chair of Council), Rachel Podolak (co-CEO), Neeta Major (co-CEO), Trevor Pickersgill (Treasurer)