Chief doctors support strike action in England

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Nick Triggle, Health Correspondent, June 27, 2023, 16:11 GMT

Updated 27 minutes ago

NHS advisers in England have voted to strike in their fight for more wages.

About 86% of BMA members supported striking over what the union described as repeated pay cuts.

The union had already announced that a 48-hour strike on July 20 and 21 would take place if doctors supported the measure.

A five-day strike by junior doctors will follow – the combination likely to lead to massive disruption of services and cancellations of treatments.

The withdrawal of junior doctors from all services will end on July 18.

The consultants would provide what is described as Christmas Day cover during their own strike – so emergency care would be provided, along with a very limited amount of routine work.

The chair of the British Medical Association’s advisory committee, Dr Vishal Sharma, said the vote showed how “angry” they felt at the government’s repeated devaluation.

“The chancellors do not want to be forced into industrial action, but they are left with no choice in the face of a government that continues to cut our salaries year after year.”

But he said it was not too late to avert a strike, and urged the government to come forward with a credible offer.

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS funds, said the “double whammy” of doctors’ strikes next month was a “huge risk” for NHS management.

There is no payment offer

Consultant salaries have fallen 27% since 2008 once RPI inflation is factored in, but the BMA said that once changes in tax and pension contributions were factored in, the reduction in take-home pay was 35%.

A major factor in this is the fact that income tax limits have been frozen, and an additional 45% tax rate introduced for higher earners.

During 2022, the average NHS earnings were over £126,000 for consultants – this includes overtime pay for overtime and performance.

Unlike junior doctors at the beginning of their dispute, consultants do not ask for their entire fee back at once. Instead, they want to see the government at least start giving wage increases commensurate with inflation.

Last year, they got a pay rise of 4.5% — less than half the RPI inflation rate in the 12 months to March. No official payment offer has been made for this year yet.

Junior doctors have been offered a 5% raise this year in their talks with the government. They refused to do so, but have since said they are willing to restore wages gradually over a number of years.

Meanwhile, a poll for the Royal College of Nursing failed to achieve a large enough turnout to give the union a mandate to continue its strike.

This finding – also announced on Tuesday – means the long-running feud with nurses is now over.

Shadow Labor health secretary Wes Streeting said: “This is an unmitigated government-made disaster and the risks to patients and the NHS are intolerable.

“Rishi Sunak cannot continue to sit like a passive observer and let this matter go forward. He must now call the doctors for immediate negotiations to end these strikes.”

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