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As consultants in England today begin two more days of industrial action, the government has said it’s 6% pay award offer is final and urged the British Medical Association (BMA) to call off the strikes.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said he was concerned and disappointed that the BMA had gone ahead with this industrial action which will continue to affect patients and hamper efforts to cut NHS waiting lists.
Steve Barclay said: “I’m aware some consultants cut short their annual leave over the most recent periods of industrial action by the BMA Junior Doctors Committee and I am incredibly grateful to those staff who came forward to help protect patients and services.
“We have accepted the independent pay review body recommendations in full, giving consultants a 6% pay rise which means average NHS earnings for consultants of £134,000, on top of a pension where generous tax changes mean a consultant can retire at age 65 with a pension each year for life of £78,000 a year.”
Further industrial action announced by BMA
The BMA, however, have said in the absence of any progress in discussions with government, they will now also strike for three days from the 2nd October – the longest period of action by consultants so far. This is in addition to strike action already planned for 19th and 20th September.
The dispute will not go away simply because they refuse to negotiate. We will not be ignored.
It added that consultants are clear that they’re prepared to take regular action and politicians must be left in no doubt that the dispute will not go away simply because they refuse to negotiate. We will not be ignored.
It said that consultants have seen their take-home pay fall by more than a third since 2008/09, and the BMA’s consultants committee is urging the government to present a credible offer that puts an end to these pay cuts and a commits to reforming the pay review body process so that it can be truly independent in reviewing consultant pay and begin addressing these historic losses. Yet the government once again last month imposed another real-terms pay cut on consultants with its 6% uplift.
Dr Vishal Sharma, BMA consultants committee chair, said: “No consultant wants to be striking and we head out to picket lines today with heavy hearts. We would much rather be inside the hospital seeing our patients. But we cannot sit by and watch passively as we are persistently devalued, undermined and forced to watch colleagues leave – much to the detriment of the NHS and patients.
“First the Prime Minister blamed Covid and now he attempts to scapegoat doctors for his failure to bring down waiting lists. The reality however is that we had record waiting lists before the pandemic and before any periods of industrial action, and they were due to the government’s failure to properly invest in the NHS and its staff. The waiting lists can only be brought down by recruiting and retaining doctors. This starts with valuing them properly – not by subjecting them to further real-terms pay cuts, as the government did last month.
“By refusing to talk to us – and it’s now been 150 days since the Health Secretary met with us – it just shows that the government is not serious about the NHS, its workforce or patients.”
Nearly at the ‘grim milestone’ of one million cancelled operations
The news comes as NHS leaders plead with both sides to finally bring the dispute to a close. The NHS Confederation said they are sympathetic to the concerns of senior medical staff regarding reform of their contract, but also know that this war of attrition with the government is eroding hopes of reducing the backlog and affecting patient care.
Danny Mortimer, deputy chief executive, said: “Unfortunately, handling strikes has had to become routine for leaders, with many telling us they’re spending up to a third of their time planning for and dealing with the fallout of repeated walkouts. While the work they’ve done has minimised disruption, they nonetheless see and fear the impact it is having on patients and staff alike.
“With strike action backing onto a bank holiday weekend, this round will again have a significant impact on patients. Demand at A&E departments is usually higher on bank holiday weekends, but this combined with operating a Christmas Day level of service in the runup, means that increased pressures will in many places mean patients will be faced with severe delays.
“It’s too late to stop this walkout, but the failure to put an end to this situation has put the Prime Minister’s pledge to reduce waiting lists in real jeopardy; another round of industrial action after this one may deliver a knockout blow to backlog hopes. All sides must do whatever it takes to avert the further walkout planned by consultants for September and prevent the NHS from reaching the grim milestone of one million cancelled operations.”
Last week, junior doctors in Scotland voted to accept the latest pay offer from the Scottish government and will receive a pay rise of 12.4% backdated to April.
In addition, the Scottish government has committed to agreeing a new pay review mechanism with junior doctors – the aim of which is to reach a “mutually agreeable path to achieve pay restoration and prevent erosion recurring in the future” – effectively withdrawing junior doctors in Scotland from the Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body (DDRB).
