Consultants in England vote in favour of NHS strikes
Consultants across England have voted for future NHS strikes over pay and pensions.
In a poll, 76% of senior doctors who are members of the British Medical Association (BMA) said they would be willing to take industrial action; This means they now have the power to take strike action for the next 12 months.
It comes after junior doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, agreed a pay deal with the government to end three years of strikes.
Patients have seen hundreds of thousands of appointments canceled due to industrial action over the last few years.
The BMA says there is no need for a strike if the government addresses issues including “ending wage erosion”, which it says also affects pensions.
18,069 of 35,067 eligible members (51.53%) voted; 13,695 voted in favor of potential strike action.
Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta, co-chairs of the BMA consultants committee, said: “This is a clear message that consultants in the UK are unwilling to tolerate the ongoing attack on their pay and professional merits and are prepared to take action if necessary.”
Health and Social Care Minister James Murray said there was “no justification” for the strikes, given that consultants are some of the highest-paid public sector workers and are in the top 2% paid in the country.
“After a 28.5% increase in basic starting pay over the last four years, with the average consultant earning more than £152,000 a year, there is no justification for strikes that will harm patients and the NHS,” he said.
“Consultants are an invaluable part of the NHS workforce and we are working closely with them to improve business planning and modernize their contracts. Strikes will only hinder this important work.
“I urge the BMA and all consultants not to rush into another unnecessary and destructive cycle of industrial action.”
The BMA says the average salary is still 26 per cent lower in real terms than it was 17 years ago, with the final salary point for a consultant in England £16,000 lower than their counterparts in Wales.
The NHS in England has become quite adept at managing services and minimizing disruptions on strike days by redeploying senior doctors to cover junior doctors.
However, if consultants decide to continue the strike, it will create new difficulties for hospital managers.
Consultants will continue to work in urgent and urgent care. However, the strike will mean that many appointments and operations requiring senior doctors will not take place.
Just when they thought all was calm on the industrial relations front, hospitals will need to quickly find new ways of working.
Consultants in England last walked out on strike between July and October 2023, in strikes coordinated to coincide with junior doctors’ strikes.
However, consultants and specialist doctors in Northern Ireland have been on strike over pay in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the legal participation threshold has been exceeded in a vote of specialist, sub-specialist and specialist (SAS) doctors in England.
Approximately 2,738 SAS physicians voted and turnout was 43%.
However, the BMA said 90 percent of those who took part in the vote voted in favor of the strike.
