BMA passes vote of no confidence in Jeremy Hunt

The British Medical Association (BMA) has passed a vote of no confidence in health secretary Jeremy Hunt during its annual conference in Edinburgh.

An overwhelming majority of the 500 delegates in attendance at the event today (June 24th 2013) endorsed the motion after a succession of speakers rebuked the Conservative minister for his part in driving through controversial and much-criticised reforms of the NHS.

BMA council member Jacky Davis strongly condemned Mr Hunt for numerous remarks in which he blamed NHS staff for the current problems affecting the health service, with Dr Davis describing his comments as an "ideological attack".

A survey published by the BMA to mark the start of its conference revealed that two-thirds of doctors wanted to make changes or improvements in the past year, but were unable to do so due to excessive red tape and lack of capacity of support.

Dr Mark Porter, chair of the BMA Council, said: "It is a grave cause for concern that those who wanted to make improvements to patient services feel there are barriers prohibiting that."