Should Microbiologists be on Category A or B when on Call? (BIA members only)

Dr Andrew Mackay, Princess Royal Hospital, Bromley, placed the following post on BIA-L (12th February 2018) an extract of which which has been reproduced below with his permission:

Since October 2013, I have been keeping the Job Descriptions for all the Microbiology Consultant posts that have been advertised in BMJ Careers.

From the 76 Trusts that I have information on, covering about 400 consultants, the jobs advertised are all Category A. Except for 6 small Trusts and one big one. I would dearly like to name them but think that would be unfair. Some of these Category B Jobs come up regularly, advertising again and again, for consultants and locums, as they do not attract applicants. Whether Jobs are 1 in 8 or 1 in 2 on call they are Category A. All time spent on-call is included in the job plans, i.e. it is paid. So the Category A remuneration is pay for being on call and being ready to return to the hospital if required. The few microbiologists getting only Category B are half from specialist hospitals; some arrange not to come in at weekends and only accept clinical calls from the Consultants only; one is a large teaching hospital where the consultants have "full cover from experienced registrars". All other Teaching Hospital Trusts offer Category A. In the financial climate, managers will talk to one another about cost saving, especially the Shelford Group.

If any of you get hassled to go down to Category B or want advice on strategies for going up to Category A, I have considerable experience and documentation of our particular case that you would find useful, so email me (andrew.mackay@nhs.net)