Harrison Carter

Harrison D.E Carter
Harrison Carter in 2015
Born	Sheffield
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Bristol University Downing College, Cambridge
Occupation	Medical Student
Years active	2013-present
Organization	British Medical Association
Known for	Co-chair, UK Medical Students Committee, British Medical Association

Harrison Carter is a medical student who is the co-chair of the UK Medical Students Committee of the British Medical Association (BMA).^[1] He represents 40,000 medical students to the government, media, medical organisations and members of the public. He was a non-executive director at the BMA between 2013-2014.^[2]

Early life

Carter grew up in Meadowhead, Sheffield and was educated at Meadowhead School and Birkdale School.^[3] He studied Cancer Biology and Immunology at Bristol University, with post-graduate research experience as a Lister Fellow Student at Oxford University's Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. He completed a Master’s in Public Health as a Newton Master's Scholar at Cambridge University where he was a member of Downing College. He is now entering his final year of Medicine at Bristol University ^[1]

Politics

Harrison was one of the key people involved in supporting junior doctor contract negotiations and the strategic coordination of the Junior doctors contract dispute in England, 2015.^[4][5][6]

Harrison Carter being interviewed in 2017

During the junior doctors dispute, a petition was signed by thousands of people that put Carter under pressure to ballot medical students to strike. However, medical students couldn't strike given the fact they weren't employed on a contract. As an alternative, he instructed that penultimate and final year students be surveyed, which highlighted that significant numbers were considering leaving the NHS.^[7][8] Although they couldn't be balloted to strike, these medical students were able to participate in the final vote on whether to accept or reject the contract as were final year medical students from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with proof of employment in England. Overall, Junior doctors and medical students rejected the contract.^[9]

Harrison Carter being interviewed outside Richmond House, Whitehall

He has provided national media commentary on issues pertaining to medical students including on student bursaries and student debt, nurses pay, the morale of UK medical students, UK medical workforce requirements, the junior doctors contract, medical school admissions, migrants' right to healthcare, political involvement in NHS affairs and Brexit.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][10][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]}

Harrison's press statement in response to the Government's policy to increase the number of doctors in the NHS was featured widely across the national print, broadcast and television news media. In addition, Carter was quoted directly to the Minister of State for Health, Philip Dunne, by John Humphrys on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme asking the Minister to clarify how long it would take new medical students to become GPs.^{[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]}

Medical education

Harrison Carter with Don Berwick in London, 2017

Carter has an interest in medical education and co-created "By Choice, Not By Chance" - a document focused on increasing GP recruitment.^{[39][40][41][42][43]} In addition, he was asked to contribute to the King's Fund's "Organising Care at the NHS Frontline" by Chris Ham and Don Berwick, Barack Obama's former healthcare reform advisor.^{[44][45][46][47][48]} He is an Associate Course Director at the pioneering Healthcare Leadership Academy which has former Conservative Minister, Dan Poulter and former Labour Shadow Health Secretary, Heidi Alexander on the faculty, and is responsible for international advocacy at the NNEdPro Global Centre for Human Nutrition.^[49][50]

Other

Carter was affected by a series of leaks from the BMA last year which resulted in thousands of pages of whatsapp transcripts being handed over to journalists.^{[51][52][53][54]} This was the feature of a Health Service Journal editorial which described Harrison and his colleagues as having 'sometimes giddy excitement in being caught up in such a defining dispute; there is an apolitical pragmatism and a willingness to “play games” in order to achieve victory; there is much righteous anger; genuine concern about the impact of the proposed contract; and an understanding of the responsibility they have been given. There is also fear of being seen to do the wrong thing. Finally there is spade loads of naivety – especially about how government works – mixed with an unhealthy dose of arrogance'^[55]

He was the first person selected to discuss his life in the student British Medical Journal (BMJ) 'confidential series'^[56]

Carter was an Alfred Monks Scholar at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam where he studied the evaluation and planning of health screening programmes. He was also an IHI Scholar at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston and was awarded a Certificate of Excellence in Applied Human Nutrition at Cambridge University.

References