Further strike dates annouced to coincide with Tory Party conference
Consultants in England are taking strike action again today over working conditions and pay as the BMA doctors’ union accuses health secretary Steve Barclay of refusing to talk with them on pay since March.
Further strike dates have also been announced in October, in what will be consultants’ longest period of industrial action so far for three days on 2nd, 3rd and 4th October which will coincide with the Conservative Party conference.
The Health Secretary last met with the BMA doctors’ union on the 22 March the union has said, as the Chair of the BMA Consultants Committee, Vishal Sharma, highlighted the difference between the approach of the Westminster government compared to the Scottish Government.
“The government is refusing to talk to us,” Sharma told Good Morning Britain. “We last met with the Secretary of State on the 22 March, he has not met with us to talk about pay since and continues to refuse to talk about pay.”
“That is in complete contrast to again what happened in Scotland, where there was really good discussions between the government and unions and that’s how strikes were averted.”
He added: “But it really does come back to making sure that we have enough doctors to provide the care patients need.”
Unmanageable workloads due to staff shortages is the main reason many consultants are taking strike action Sharma has said. He warned that the UK will continue to lose doctors to overseas and other sectors unless this changes, and ‘the NHS will struggle even more’.
Sharma highlighted how consultants working abroad can earn up to twice the starter salary of those in the UK, with over 6,000 doctors who qualified in the UK now working in Australia.
Take-home pay for consultants has fallen by more than a third since 2008/09, as real-terms pay for doctors in England has been eroded over the last 14 years. The government pay offer of a 6% uplift last month imposed another real-terms pay cut on consultants.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues
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