NHS consultants earning an average £152,000 a year have voted to strike for more pay and shorter hours after Labour caved-in to junior doctor pay demands. The Mail has more.
The British Medical Association is demanding a multi-year pay deal worth an extra 33% – or £50,000.
The union also wants members’ standard rotas slashed from 40 to 35 hours, plus higher fees for out-of-hours work and ‘sleep disturbances’ when on call.
It comes just a week after the Tories accused Labour of ‘shaking the magic money tree’ to “bribe” resident [junior] doctors into ending their industrial dispute.
Former health secretary Wes Streeting had warned that caving in would embolden other NHS staff and could end up costing taxpayers billions of pounds.
His successor James Murray urged consultants not to “rush into another cycle of unnecessary and disruptive industrial action” amid fears it would hamper efforts to reduce waiting lists and cause patients to suffer.
Murray said: “Consultants are some of the highest paid public sector staff and among the top 2% of earners in the country.
“After a 28.5% increase in basic starting pay over the last four years and with the average consultant now earning over £152,000 a year, there is simply no justification for strikes that will cause disruption to patients and the NHS.”
Consultant strikes have the potential to be far more disruptive than those by resident doctors.
This is because consultants can cover for absent resident doctors but not the other way around.
According to the BMA, some 35,067 consultants were eligible to vote and 18,069 took part – a turnout of 51.53%.
Almost 14,000 (76%) said they would be prepared to strike, giving the union a legal mandate which lasts 12 months.
But the Department of Health was quick to highlight that this means only 39.1% of consultants who are BMA members voted for strike action, which is equivalent to a fifth of consultants working in the NHS.
Giving all 66,759 consultants working in the health service a £50,000 rise would cost £3.3 billion.
Consultants in England last walked out between July and October 2023, which included two strikes co-ordinated with resident doctors.
Tory health spokesman Stuart Andrew said the latest vote strengthened the argument for banning doctors from striking, as is the case with the military and police.
Worth reading in full.
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to the Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Once you have paid them the Danegeld ….
The next Government must make it illegal to strike if you are employed in the Emergency Services.
I fancy a taxpayers strike. How about that? But we can’t because we have a no strike clause in our unwanted contract with governments who just steal money from us all – except the lazy, workshy welfare junkies.
Change union laws and make it a requirement that more than 60% of members must vote and that there must be at least a 60% majority in favour of strikes. It is clear that the majority of consultants do not want to strike. The rest are communist agitators and underminers.
Also, change the work contract for junio doctors and all medical staff up to consultant. Make it part of the job that they cannot strike.
In the 1960s the huge exodus of doctors and nurses started, known as the “brain drain” (it also involved other scientists), all moving to the USA and Canada (suddenly, Britain being at the top of Nobel Prize winners moved down the ladder).
8000 home-produce doctors left and the gap was filled with “overseas” doctors – 70% from India. Under Harold Wilson, the flow gathered momentum and the replacement has never stopped, now the doctors moving to Australia and NZ (where my young GP has just gone).
Search “consultants of …” and add any London hospital name you wish and see how many foreign names appear, often qualified abroad.
At the same time, modern consultants’ greed remains unquenched. Their £100k to £200k salary is their pocket money. Almost all are part-timers, spending most of their time in private clinics with some earning £500k to £1m annually (their subordinates minding their NHS shop).
As for nurses, please pay a visit to the world renowned London St Thomas’ Teaching Hospital, opposite the House of Commons and see with your own eyes (I am not risking Starmer’s stormtroopers).
Just logged in again.
shame consultants are not paid enough to afford clothing to match the status to which they aspire.
Given recent experience of the NHS in my household, I suspect they aspire to WFH status.
Is it still possible for NHS consultants to work part time for it, and part time for another organisation, that might pay a fair bit more? Many normal companies do not allow one to work for other firms in the trade that compete, in effect.
So only 39.1% of eligible members voted to strike. Remind me what percentage of eligible voters supported Labour at the last General Election?
Not sure relevance
The Department of Health is using the 39.1% figure to undermine the result. Government ministers could find themselves on shaky ground if they start questioning the legitimacy of the strike mandate, given the poor backing they received at the last general election.
It was inevitable after the capitulation to their junior colleagues. I think this unlikely to be then end of it as the nurses must be feeling hard done by too.
And midwives. And ancillary staff.
When will train drivers be back.
I didn’t realise they’d actually gone away…
Don’t forget the poor hard done by CEO’s of the health trusts…
The first thing to be aware of, when settling union pay claims, is the effect on differentials.
Off Topic apologies
Farage resigns as MP for Clacton forcing by-election!