Union leader urges PM to return ‘to real world’ to settle doctors’ pay dispute
Junior doctors’ strikes have cost NHS £1bn, according to health chief
Lucas Cumiskey, PA
Fri, 11 August 2023
A junior doctors’ union leader has urged the Prime Minister to “come back to the real world” from his Disneyland holiday to break the deadlock amid the latest strikes in the NHS.
Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairman of the the British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee, spoke as protesters rallied outside Downing Street on Friday, while Rishi Sunak was thought to be on a family holiday in California still.
The demonstration comes as junior doctors from the British Medical Association (BMA) embarked on a fresh four-day walkout from Friday amid a bitter dispute with the Government over pay.
Junior doctor members of the British Medical Association held a rally outside Downing Street on Friday (Victoria Jones/PA)
Mr Sunak departed for a family summer holiday to the United States on Wednesday and said his daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, were “very excited” about heading to Disneyland.
Asked by the PA news agency about a senior health boss’s claim that junior doctor strikes had cost the NHS about £1 billion, Dr Laurenson said: “What I would say is it cost the Government £1 billion to cover 15 days of strike action and back last October, when we started our trade dispute, the cost of full pay restoration is £1 billion, so now the Government is just wasting money rather than settling.
“And it doesn’t make sense, because if Rishi Sunak believes that this is fuelling inflation, does that not mean Rishi Sunak is now the leading cause of inflation?
“He’s not at home, he’s in Disneyland, Disneyworld, and to be honest he needs to come back to the real world to sort out the real issues.”
Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said earlier that hospital trusts were having to “pay premium rates to consultants” to cover the roles of junior doctors while they were on picket lines, as a fifth round of industrial action threatens further disruption to patient care.
Scores of placard-wielding junior doctors staged the rally outside Downing Street and speeches were delivered from a stage.
The song Vossi Bop by Stormzy – which features the lyrics “f*** the Government and f*** Boris” – was one of the tracks played over the speakers.
Protesters held signs with messages including “strike to save the NHS” and “14/hr to save your life”.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay called on the BMA to end its industrial action (Aaron Chown/PA)
An ambulance driver beeped their horn as they drove past to cheers from those assembled.
Asked if he felt bad for ill or injured people who might not get the care they needed during the four-day strike, Dr Robert Laurenson told PA: “Of course, always, and that’s precisely why this strike is happening.
“Doctors are patients too, are families, are patients too. We see behind the curtain. We know how bad care is on a normal working day and we’re not going to put up with it any more. No-one is holding this Government to account, so we will.”
On the rise in cancelled appointments, he said: “You can’t deliver care without doctors. We’ve seen it over the last 13 years with waiting lists ballooning, and it’s because the Government are cutting our pay and driving doctors away – that needs to come to a stop now.
“These strikes don’t have to happen. The Government needs to recognise all of its decisions over the last 10 years have led to this moment, they have eradicated any sense of relationship between doctors and government and they need to start building steps to build back that relationship.”
The latest round of strike action from BMA junior doctors in England will end at 7am on Tuesday August 15.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay has claimed strike action by doctors “serves only to harm patients” and puts “further pressure” on their colleagues.
He told broadcasters on Friday: “I am concerned about the impact strikes are having on patients and that is why I call on the BMA to end their industrial action.
(PA Graphics)
“Junior doctors will receive up to 10.3%, an average of 8.8%, in terms of their pay deal. We have accepted in full the recommendations of the independent pay review body, but we are also investing more widely.
“The first ever workforce long-term plan, to expand workforce training, the biggest ever investment in the NHS estate, over £20 billion of work, investing record sums in the NHS.
“We have accepted in full the recommendations of the independent pay review body process, and it is also right that we balance that with our wider commitment to bring inflation down, because that matters to NHS staff just as it does to the community.”
Junior doctors’ strikes have cost NHS £1bn, according to health chief
Lucas Cumiskey, PA
Fri, 11 August 2023
A junior doctors’ union leader has urged the Prime Minister to “come back to the real world” from his Disneyland holiday to break the deadlock amid the latest strikes in the NHS.
Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairman of the the British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee, spoke as protesters rallied outside Downing Street on Friday, while Rishi Sunak was thought to be on a family holiday in California still.
The demonstration comes as junior doctors from the British Medical Association (BMA) embarked on a fresh four-day walkout from Friday amid a bitter dispute with the Government over pay.
Junior doctor members of the British Medical Association held a rally outside Downing Street on Friday (Victoria Jones/PA)
Mr Sunak departed for a family summer holiday to the United States on Wednesday and said his daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, were “very excited” about heading to Disneyland.
Asked by the PA news agency about a senior health boss’s claim that junior doctor strikes had cost the NHS about £1 billion, Dr Laurenson said: “What I would say is it cost the Government £1 billion to cover 15 days of strike action and back last October, when we started our trade dispute, the cost of full pay restoration is £1 billion, so now the Government is just wasting money rather than settling.
“And it doesn’t make sense, because if Rishi Sunak believes that this is fuelling inflation, does that not mean Rishi Sunak is now the leading cause of inflation?
“He’s not at home, he’s in Disneyland, Disneyworld, and to be honest he needs to come back to the real world to sort out the real issues.”
Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said earlier that hospital trusts were having to “pay premium rates to consultants” to cover the roles of junior doctors while they were on picket lines, as a fifth round of industrial action threatens further disruption to patient care.
Scores of placard-wielding junior doctors staged the rally outside Downing Street and speeches were delivered from a stage.
The song Vossi Bop by Stormzy – which features the lyrics “f*** the Government and f*** Boris” – was one of the tracks played over the speakers.
Protesters held signs with messages including “strike to save the NHS” and “14/hr to save your life”.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay called on the BMA to end its industrial action (Aaron Chown/PA)
An ambulance driver beeped their horn as they drove past to cheers from those assembled.
Asked if he felt bad for ill or injured people who might not get the care they needed during the four-day strike, Dr Robert Laurenson told PA: “Of course, always, and that’s precisely why this strike is happening.
“Doctors are patients too, are families, are patients too. We see behind the curtain. We know how bad care is on a normal working day and we’re not going to put up with it any more. No-one is holding this Government to account, so we will.”
On the rise in cancelled appointments, he said: “You can’t deliver care without doctors. We’ve seen it over the last 13 years with waiting lists ballooning, and it’s because the Government are cutting our pay and driving doctors away – that needs to come to a stop now.
“These strikes don’t have to happen. The Government needs to recognise all of its decisions over the last 10 years have led to this moment, they have eradicated any sense of relationship between doctors and government and they need to start building steps to build back that relationship.”
The latest round of strike action from BMA junior doctors in England will end at 7am on Tuesday August 15.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay has claimed strike action by doctors “serves only to harm patients” and puts “further pressure” on their colleagues.
He told broadcasters on Friday: “I am concerned about the impact strikes are having on patients and that is why I call on the BMA to end their industrial action.
(PA Graphics)
“Junior doctors will receive up to 10.3%, an average of 8.8%, in terms of their pay deal. We have accepted in full the recommendations of the independent pay review body, but we are also investing more widely.
“The first ever workforce long-term plan, to expand workforce training, the biggest ever investment in the NHS estate, over £20 billion of work, investing record sums in the NHS.
“We have accepted in full the recommendations of the independent pay review body process, and it is also right that we balance that with our wider commitment to bring inflation down, because that matters to NHS staff just as it does to the community.”
Junior Doctor On Strike Claims Tories Have Made NHS Among The Worst Health Systems In Europe
Kate Nicholson
Fri, 11 August 2023
NHS strikes over pay and conditions have been rocking the health service for months now.
NHS strikes over pay and conditions have been rocking the health service for months now.
A junior doctor has slammed the government, claiming the Conservatives have made the NHS “among the worst in Europe”.
Dr Andrew Meyerson was on Sky News on Friday shortly after junior doctors in England launched their fifth round of industrial action over pay and working conditions.
Members of the British Medication Association will strike until 7am next Tuesday in a move which could result in appointment cancellations due to the industrial action reaching one million.
Since December, the strikes are estimated to have cost the NHS close to £1 billion – but PM Rishi Sunak has refused to engage in more pay negotiations.
Pressed on the reasons why junior doctors are striking again, Meyerson said: “Can I be brutally honest with you? I don’t believe the British people are safe with this government running the NHS.
“I firmly believe that – they have allowed the system to go from the best in the world from 10 years ago to among the worst in Europe now.
“I think that’s just awful. They do not deserve to look after the NHS any longer.”
The Tories have been in power since 2010, and have been accused of persistently underfunding the NHS over the years until the service seems to be on its last legs.
Responding to claims from health secretary Steve Barclay that the strikes are only worsening the quality of care for patients, Meyerson said: “This is very much a last option for us. We do not want to be here, we are desperate to go back and work.
“You see that the government in Scotland handled it in a very different way, making a reasonable offer to our BMA colleagues in Scotland, to signal to them that their work is important, that their labour is important.
“We have not had any similar commitment from this government to any aspect of patient care in this country for a very long time.”
He said patient waiting lists were “pushing five million” even before Covid hit, and then they were exacerbated by the government’s “disastrous pandemic response”.
On Thursday, it was revealed NHS waiting lists have reached 7.6 million, a record high, even though the prime minister vowed back in January that he would cut waiting times.
Meyerson continued: “This is the crux of it: no matter what we do in the last 10 years, no matter how many experts in this country tell the government their health policy is wrong – it’s wasting your money – no matter what, they refuse to listen.
“And despite all of our best efforts to avoid any strike action, this is now the fifth time this government is allowing this to happen.
“Rishi Sunak is the son of an NHS GP. You’d think he’d actually care about the health service, but he’s going to be responsible for seeing its demise.
“It’s heartbreaking for us on the frontline to see the patient experience as awful and terrible as it is right now.”
The Department of Health and Social Care has defended the 6% pay rise it has offered to junior doctors, along with an additional consolidated £1,250.
The government has said this is “fair and reasonable” and “above what most in the public and private sectors are receiving”, as it works out to a supposed “average increase of around 8.8%”.
Kate Nicholson
Fri, 11 August 2023
NHS strikes over pay and conditions have been rocking the health service for months now.
NHS strikes over pay and conditions have been rocking the health service for months now.
A junior doctor has slammed the government, claiming the Conservatives have made the NHS “among the worst in Europe”.
Dr Andrew Meyerson was on Sky News on Friday shortly after junior doctors in England launched their fifth round of industrial action over pay and working conditions.
Members of the British Medication Association will strike until 7am next Tuesday in a move which could result in appointment cancellations due to the industrial action reaching one million.
Since December, the strikes are estimated to have cost the NHS close to £1 billion – but PM Rishi Sunak has refused to engage in more pay negotiations.
Pressed on the reasons why junior doctors are striking again, Meyerson said: “Can I be brutally honest with you? I don’t believe the British people are safe with this government running the NHS.
“I firmly believe that – they have allowed the system to go from the best in the world from 10 years ago to among the worst in Europe now.
“I think that’s just awful. They do not deserve to look after the NHS any longer.”
The Tories have been in power since 2010, and have been accused of persistently underfunding the NHS over the years until the service seems to be on its last legs.
Responding to claims from health secretary Steve Barclay that the strikes are only worsening the quality of care for patients, Meyerson said: “This is very much a last option for us. We do not want to be here, we are desperate to go back and work.
“You see that the government in Scotland handled it in a very different way, making a reasonable offer to our BMA colleagues in Scotland, to signal to them that their work is important, that their labour is important.
“We have not had any similar commitment from this government to any aspect of patient care in this country for a very long time.”
He said patient waiting lists were “pushing five million” even before Covid hit, and then they were exacerbated by the government’s “disastrous pandemic response”.
On Thursday, it was revealed NHS waiting lists have reached 7.6 million, a record high, even though the prime minister vowed back in January that he would cut waiting times.
Meyerson continued: “This is the crux of it: no matter what we do in the last 10 years, no matter how many experts in this country tell the government their health policy is wrong – it’s wasting your money – no matter what, they refuse to listen.
“And despite all of our best efforts to avoid any strike action, this is now the fifth time this government is allowing this to happen.
“Rishi Sunak is the son of an NHS GP. You’d think he’d actually care about the health service, but he’s going to be responsible for seeing its demise.
“It’s heartbreaking for us on the frontline to see the patient experience as awful and terrible as it is right now.”
The Department of Health and Social Care has defended the 6% pay rise it has offered to junior doctors, along with an additional consolidated £1,250.
The government has said this is “fair and reasonable” and “above what most in the public and private sectors are receiving”, as it works out to a supposed “average increase of around 8.8%”.
BMA accused of ‘political motivated campaign’ after leader says union works better with Scotland
Laura Donnelly
Fri, 11 August 2023
Vivek Trivedi (left) and Rob Laurenson, co-chairmen of the BMA’s junior doctors committee - YUI MOK/PA
The British Medical Association (BMA) has been accused of trying to bring down the Government in an increasingly bitter pay dispute.
The union was accused on Friday of making a “clear admission” of being politically motivated after suggesting that it preferred doing business with the SNP-led Scottish Government.
Dr Rob Laurenson, co-chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, suggested that the union would not accept the kind of deal it has backed from the Scottish Government, should it be put forward by the Westminster Government.
The union was questioned on its stance as tens of thousands of junior doctors took part in a fifth round of strikes in its long-running pay dispute.
The Scottish Government has recommended a 12.4 per cent pay rise for 2023/24, which the BMA has backed and put to its members for consideration.
Asked by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, “You would not accept the kind of deal that your Scottish members are thinking of accepting?”, Mr Laurenson said the union would not.
He said: “No, because the governments are very different. So the Scottish Government, there’s a basis to work forwards and have a relationship and a working relationship to negotiate in the future. The Government that we have today are hell bent on using the rigged, independent pay review bodies.”
Asked if this position amounted to an “ideological” reason not to do a deal, Mr Laurenson insisted otherwise, saying: “I think what’s ideological is the Government cutting our pay for fifteen consecutive years.”
A source close to Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State for Health, said: “This is a clear admission from the BMA junior doctors’ leadership that their strikes are part of a politically-motivated campaign aimed at bringing down the Government.
“This industrial action is not in the interests of ordinary doctors in training or of patients.
“We are delivering a fair pay award averaging 8.8 per cent for doctors in training with 10.3 per cent for the lowest earners. The BMA should end their strikes immediately.”
Junior doctors rally near Downing Street during their latest strike - CHRIS J. RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG
Mr Barclay has said strike action by doctors “serves only to harm patients” and puts “further pressure” on their colleagues.
In a statement, Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, the fellow co-chairman, said: “The junior doctors strike in England is not aimed at ‘bringing down’ the Government as sources close to Steve Barclay are suggesting; our focus is on bringing the Government to the table to find a way of restoring 15 years’ worth of underpayment in real terms.
“The Prime Minister could end this dispute today with a credible offer to address the pay doctors have had taken from their pockets over the last 15 years. A change of Government wouldn’t end this dispute, only a fair pay deal will.”
On Friday ministers said the Government “can’t move on the pay settlement,” as they urged the union to accept the pay award they have been given.
Ministers are braced for junior doctor strikes to continue through the winter as a bitter standoff continues, with the BMA calling for a pay increase of 35 per cent, which it says is needed to restore real terms cuts.
John Glen, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said on Friday that the Government “can’t move” on the pay settlement.
Asked if he was prepared to see doctor strikes through the winter, Mr Glen said he was “very unhappy with their decisions to strike, but it will be their decision”.
The latest walkout by BMA junior doctors is due to last for four days, finishing at 7am on Tuesday Aug 15.
Even before the latest strikes got underway, the NHS costs of the walkouts are estimated to have reached around £1 billion, of which around one third has been spent paying “premium” rates for consultants to stand in for juniors.
The BMA is currently reballoting its members to extend its mandate for strike action by a further six months as it seeks “pay restoration”.
John Glen, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the Government ‘can’t move’ on the pay settlement - Wiktor Szymanowicz/Shutterstock
Mr Glen said the strikes are “not good for the economy” and “not good for patients” as he urged the BMA to accept the Government’s pay offer.
He told Sky News: “We as a government have to be responsible in the pay settlements that we give and we listened to the independent pay review body and that means giving junior doctors in their first year over 10 per cent increase.
“On average junior doctors will have just under nine per cent increase in the amount of money that they are having and that is in a situation where we have got to manage inflation.”
“So we have also tried to address other wider concerns around pensions in the medical sector, the BMA wanted us to remove the lifetime allowance, we did that, and we will continue to be open to talk to them about working conditions.
“But what we can’t move on is additional pay given that we have listened to their independent pay review body.”
Asked if he was prepared to see doctors striking through the winter, Mr Glen said: “Well, I am very unhappy with their decisions to strike but it will be their decision. I urge them to reflect on the overall situation in the economy and the fact that patients need them to conduct their operations.”
Junior doctors rally near Downing Street as the four-day strike begins - Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Speaking at a BMA rally at Downing Street, Dr Laurenson said the Government could have ended the dispute with junior doctors by spending the £1 billion it has cost to cover the strikes.
The Government has said it would cost £2 billion a year in total to fund the pay rises the BMA seeks.
Dr Laurenson said: “The cost of full pay restoration is £1 billion, so now the Government is just wasting money rather than settling. And it doesn’t make sense because if Rishi Sunak believes that this is fuelling inflation, does that not mean Rishi Sunak is now the leading cause of inflation?
“He’s not at home, he’s in Disneyland, Disneyworld, and to be honest he needs to come back to the real world to sort out the real issues,” he added.
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