General Article End exam discrimination for doctors with disabilities

Topic Selected: Disabilities
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The BMA should work with medical royal colleges and the GMC to end exam discrimination towards doctors with disabilities, a conference has heard.

Members attending the annual BMA junior doctors conference on 13 May backed calls for the association to consult with colleges and the medical regulator in reviewing the reasonable adjustment process for postgraduate exams.

Manchester foundation doctor 3 psychiatrist Gursharan Johal said that too many doctors with additional needs were being unfairly penalised by a “one-size-fits-all” approach to examination adjustments.

She said: “There are more trainees with additional needs working and training in the NHS than ever before.

“These may be physical needs, or they may be educational difficulties which can affect reading, writing or speaking. Reasonable adjustments are not a one-size-fits-all concept like our esteemed [medical] colleges think.”

Dr Johal, who is herself dyslexic, said junior doctors with disabilities often faced additional ch...

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