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The British Medical Association (BMA) will conduct a consultative ballot of consultants in England next month, to determine whether they would be prepared to take future industrial action.
Although not a legal ballot for industrial action, it will determine whether the union will proceed a statutory ballot.
It says that industrial action is not something that the BMA or consultants would not consider lightly, but in the absence of meaningful solutions from government, they feel they have no option.
The BMA said that senior doctors are cutting their hours or leaving the NHS in their droves, driven out of jobs they love by unfair pension tax rules and brutal cuts to their pay. This is having a catastrophic impact on the country’s health as waiting lists for treatment spiral out of control and patients struggle to get the care they need.
It comes as strikes over pay will now be happening across the NHS every day next week, apart from Wednesday.
Urgent action is needed to prevent the haemorrhage of senior staff
Factors leading to this decision include years of pay erosion that has meant the average consultant in England has experienced a real terms take-home pay cut of nearly 35% since 2008/09. The BMA said this has been allowed to happen because the supposedly ‘independent’ pay review process has been constantly interfered with by government and the DDRB must be reformed to return it to its founding principles so it can deliver fair pay for doctors.
In addition, thousands of doctors have already reduced their hours or left the NHS after they have incurred large additional tax bills on their pensions by exceeding the annual or lifetime allowances. The Health and Social Care Committee has described the pension tax crisis driving doctors out of the NHS a ‘national scandal’ contributing to ‘the greatest workforce crisis in its history’, yet despite the BMA outlining the necessary solutions, the government refuses to fix it.
Dr Vishal Sharma, BMA consultants committee chair, said: “Unless there is action by government to address consultants’ concerns, waiting lists will simply continue to hit new record highs and staff shortages will only worsen as more senior doctors leave the NHS. The only way out of this crisis is to fix pay, fix pensions and fix the pay review body. Consultants would not take industrial action lightly. But in the absence of meaningful solutions from government, we’ve been left with no option but to consult our members’ views on whether they wish for us to hold a formal ballot for industrial action.”
