Trainee doctors plan to go on strike for three straight days without essentials in March, causing even more chaos in the NHS.
Voting for the strike will begin on Monday, and if doctors vote for the union’s action, as many expect, they will go on strike for 72 hours, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced. This will mean a sharp escalation in the battle between NHS workers and the government for better pay once the winter is over. Nurses and paramedics are already in the midst of a wave of strikes.
More than 200,000 scheduled surgeries and outpatient appointments are likely to be canceled if young doctors vote to strike, while obstetrics, emergency and intensive care services are expected to be disrupted.
The BMA said ministers were given enough time to prepare for the results by making the announcement ahead of voting on Monday. It says trusts must arrange for coverage so that emergency care is “no different from any other day.”
Miriam Deakin, director of policy for NHS Providers, which represents the trusts, called the announcement “deeply disturbing”.
“However, the vote on the union of junior doctors is not yet open, and it is important not to prejudge its outcome,” she said.
“If young doctors vote for industry action, trust leaders will do everything they can to minimize disruption and prioritize the safe provision of care and services to patients. Trust leaders are deeply concerned about the possibility of prolonged or coordinated strikes by health workers unions in the coming months. They also understand the factors that have prompted young doctors and other health care workers to strike.
“We repeat our request to the government and trade union leaders to sit down together as soon as possible and find a peaceful solution, including on wages. Long trading is what everyone wants to avoid.”
Junior doctors are seeking a wage recovery after more than a decade of real wage cuts that have seen wages fall more than 26 percent since 2008. The BMA has repeatedly called on the government to end pay cuts, keep doctors on the NHS and alleviate a staffing crisis that is preventing the NHS from addressing record waiting lists and providing patients with the care they need.
The title “Junior Physician” can refer to anyone below the level of a medical specialist, from medical graduates to specialist registrars. Depending on their specialty, they have up to eight years of experience as a hospital doctor or up to three years in general medicine.
The union says the ministers ignored all requests for meetings and discussions on doctors’ pay, leaving it no choice but to vote for 45,000 young doctors in England for union action. Junior BMA doctors in Scotland are also being called to strike until April in a separate vote.
The BMA is calling on Health Minister Steve Barclay to meet with doctors and discuss a solution to avoid strikes. However, Mr Barclay was “the first Minister of Health in more than 50 years who continued to ignore all invitations from the BMA to meet doctors, making it almost impossible to reach a negotiated settlement.”
In 2016, would-be doctors turned down elective care twice at the start of a bitter four-year battle with then-health secretary Jeremy Hunt and the previous Conservative government before adding emergency care to union action as the dispute developed. More than 125,000 surgeries and appointments were canceled in the first all-out strike in healthcare history, which lasted two days.
The dispute ended in 2019 when the medical workers finally agreed to a new contract that earned them an 8.2 percent pay raise over four years. Over 98 percent of BMA members supported the strikes.
Young doctors are excluded from the NHS payroll process this year as their contracts continue to be governed by a multi-year pay agreement that gives them 2% for 2022-23. The BMA said this is happening despite the pay agency’s recommendation to revise it and an “additional clause” in a previous agreement that allowed it to take into account exceptional circumstances such as a pandemic and rising inflation.
Dr. Vivek Trivedi and Dr. Robert Lorenson, co-chair of the BMA’s young doctors committee, said: “The prime minister says his door and that of the minister of health are ‘always open’. But after more than a decade of wage cuts, no offer was made to restore our wages, and all our meetings and letters to the Minister of Health and his immediate predecessors were ignored.
“In the face of such resolutely stubborn silence and the absence of a friendly solution, we have no choice but to act.
“Young people are not worth a quarter less than they were 15 years ago, and they do not deserve such low respect from their own government. Falling wages, exhaustion and desperation are forcing young doctors to leave the NHS, further increasing queues as patients suffer unnecessarily. The government’s refusal to address 15 years of wage cuts has left young doctors no choice but to vote for union action. If the government does not fight for our health care, we will.
“It is particularly embarrassing for young doctors that the government constantly justifies huge pay cuts for NHS employees by claiming they were made by so-called ‘independent’ payroll authorities, free from government interference. The reality is that for more than a decade, control over doctors’ pay has been limited to political interference.
“Even after recommendations were made to increase the salaries of doctors, the government completely ignored them and asked the remuneration control body to completely exempt doctors in training from their recommendations. When even the salary review process, however disrupted, spurs ministers to action, you know something has gone wrong.”
Ministers say the upcoming 2023-24 wage round is the right time to discuss wages after the multi-year deal expires. An additional £90m has been invested in the current deal, officials say, creating a new, higher pay scale for the most experienced junior doctors – in recognition of the fact that they often make decisions and provide assistance at a near-advisory level. .
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services said: “The Minister of Health and Human Services has made it clear that supporting and retaining NHS staff is one of his top priorities, including our hard-working junior doctors.
“Our multi-year salary agreement with the British Medical Association will increase the salary of young doctors by a total of 8.2% by 2023. We have also invested another £90 million to offer the most experienced young doctors higher wages and benefits for those who work. Offer. mainly on weekends and higher wages for night shifts. The NHS has a record number of employees and we are committed to publishing a comprehensive HR strategy next year.”
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.