This week’s junior doctors strike will be hugely disruptive
After a long and difficult winter for the NHS, we’re just getting the first glimpse of brighter times ahead with the longest waits falling. Yet the threatened strikes by junior doctors’ unions this week are a dark cloud threatening this progress.
Junior doctors do a brilliant job and have been there for us through thick and thin. I hugely admire their professionalism and dedication to treat patients.
But their looming walkouts will be hugely disruptive on two levels. First, they will be disruptive for the NHS just as it recovers from the extreme winter pressures wrought by Covid and flu. NHS England has been clear strikes will significantly impact efforts to tackle waiting lists.
Second, unions have told staff to fully stop work, meaning no day, night or on-call shifts. Unions have not agreed to exempt critical areas like A&E, maternity services, paediatric and cancer care. This presents a real risk to patient safety, which should pose difficult ethical dilemmas for our hard-working junior doctors.
The BMA’s demands for junior doctors’ pay are simply unaffordable. Since 2019/20 junior doctors have received a cumulative increase in pay of 8.2 per cent, meaning the average junior doctor progressing into Foundation Year 2 now earns around £46,000, when taking into account additional earnings like overtime.
One of the most important lessons of recent political history is not to make unaffordable promises we cannot keep. Meeting BMA pay demands would require average pay rises of around 35 per cent, costing around an extra £2billion to the taxpayer at a time when we’re making real progress on our promise to halve inflation. The latest ONS data shows the UK economy expanded by 0.3 per cent in January, so while we’re making progress, there is still a long way to go.
We have committed to new investment in pay and it is vital we start negotiating. I invited the BMA to begin formal talks over pay for this financial year and the next, asking in return that they call the strikes off.
It is incredibly disappointing that unions declined my offer. I urge them to come to the negotiating table – we owe it to junior doctors and patients to agree a fair settlement which recognises the hard work and vital role of junior doctors and the wider economic pressures facing the UK.
Other unions representing ambulance workers and nurses have called off strikes while we negotiate, and we’ve had constructive and meaningful discussions which are ongoing. The BMA must put an end to this disruption while talks take place.
The NHS has put in place rigorous contingency plans to reduce the impact on patients. It will prioritise emergency, urgent and critical care to protect safety. Consultants and other doctors and health professionals will provide cover, but there will be a significant amount of disruption, delays and cancelled appointments as the BMA has not agreed any emergency cover on strike days, unlike nursing and ambulance unions. The BMA has also recommended to its consultants that they charge eyewateringly high rates to cover these shifts. While pay for this work will be agreed locally, this approach takes vital funds away from patients and work to tackle the Covid backlog
During the strikes, I urge patients who need urgent medical care to continue to come forward, especially in an emergency.
Spring is on the way and the NHS has done the hard work to get things back on track, so we can’t turn back now. I will continue doing everything I can to find a way to end these disruptive strikes so we can move forward, cut waiting lists and deliver the best possible care for patients.
The BMA’s demands are not affordable – but we are open for talks if their action is called off