Charge NHS £5,000 a day for strike cover, consultants are told

THE doctors’ union is urging consultants to charge the NHS around £5,000 per day if they cover for striking junior doctors.

Over three days of walkouts, starting on March 13, nearly 40,000 junior doctors will withdraw from A&E services as well as planned care, in the most extreme industrial action yet.

The removal of emergency cover means NHS trusts will be forced to deploy senior medics to do tasks normally performed by juniors.

Guidance from the British Medical Association (BMA) instructs consultants who step in to insist that they are paid recommended minimum rates set by the union.

The BMA’S recommended hourly minimums, normally paid for overtime, are £262 for night work, £158 in the day, and £210 at evenings.

It means one 24-hour shift could bring earnings of £4,832, including travel time, or time on call if the doctor is resident on site.

A consultant on a day shift from 7am to 7pm could expect to receive £1,896.

One health leader said: “The approach the union is taking – to go straight into a three-day strike without derogations to protect emergency care – is bad enough .

“To then say consultants who cover the work should do so at eye-watering rates really is aggressive.”

Another senior figure said: “The rates are extraordinary enough; for the BMA to insist they should be used during the strikes really reflects badly on the union.”

Dr Vishal Sharma, BMA consultants’ committee chair, said consultants had seen pay fall in real terms by more than a third in 15 years and “stood in solidarity” with junior doctors.

He said: “The [rates] are recommended for all work outside the normal contract and therefore are appropriate to use for covering absent junior doctors.”