Doctors' chief demands a smoking ban

The head of the British Medical Association today attacked the Government's failure to ban smoking in public places and its record on sexual health.

James Johnson, chairman of the BMA Council, used his speech at the start of the association's annual conference to say ministers had been " disgracefully complacent" on both issues. He received a standing ovation at the event in Llandudno, North Wales.

Mr Johnson said the ban on tobacco advertising had been a success but the Government "cannot rest on its laurels".

He received the biggest round of applause when he said: "It must take the next step and ban smoking in enclosed public places.

"It is not good enough for John Reid to wring his hands like a latter- day Marie-Antoinette and say 'let the poor smoke'. I am a vascular surgeon in one of the most deprived areas of the country. I regularly have to amputate the legs of chronic smokers - and they are not generally from social classes ABC1."

He added that the current pressure on sexual health services because of an epidemic of sexually-transmitted diseases was an "avoidable scandal".

"In some parts of the country patients turn up at a GUM [genito-urinary medicine] clinic only to be given an appointment in six weeks' time. What use is that? Our campaigning has secured extra cash for GUM clinics, but nowhere near enough.

This is an area where walk-in clinics and same day service really would help."

Mr Johnson, who works at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire, also denounced the NHS's reliance on overseas doctors as a "shameful record of exploitation".

He said the Government had failed to do enough to implement the new European working-time directive which will limit junior doctors' hours and is only six weeks away.

He added that while both Labour and Tories were placing great weight on patient choice, this could only work in a limited way.

"Choice implies spare capacity and we are still woefully short of the doctors, nurses and health professionals we need to run a proper 21st-century service," he said.

Meanwhile, delegates urged the Department of Health to ensure changes to the way GPs work out of hours do not force people into A&E units

From December, GPs will be able to opt out of providing such services and responsibility will pass to primary care trusts.

Many fear PCTs are illprepared, and GP Fay Wilson today called for the DoH to ensure all necessary funding.