EXCLUSIVE Revealed: BMA's war chest will fund doctors' strikes with unions able to spend MILLIONS to wreak NHS havoc
The British Medical Association boasts it is prepared for a 'long-term' fight with Health Secretary Wes Streeting if talks to prevent crippling strikes fail to reach a breakthrough.
And it says further reserves worth tens of millions can be tapped into to wreak chaos throughout the summer.
The 'industrial action reserve', worth £1 million at the start of this year, is 'ring-fenced' to fund a campaign for resident doctors to get pay hikes of 29 per cent, according to documents seen by the Mail.
But other reserves collectively containing more than £50 million can also be drawn on to continue the fight – and inflict as much damage on the health service as possible, the BMA said.
The revelations dampen hopes of a breakthrough in talks before a five-day walkout begins at 7am on Friday.
The Tories on Sunday night said the BMA war chest was proof that Labour had lost control of its union 'paymasters' after promising to end the strikes ahead of last year's general election.
'This is the latest sign they will be using their bully-boy tactics to hold the country to ransom,' Conservative business spokesman Andrew Griffith said.
Junior doctors take part in a rally outside Downing Street over pay just last year
Pay of doctors has soared by 91% in last eight years
By Shaun Wooller Health Editor
Walkout: Despite recent pay rises, resident doctors are set to strike on Friday
Doctors have pocketed the biggest pay rises of any profession since 2017, figures show.
Medics have benefited from a boost of 91 per cent over the past eight years, according to the Office for National Statistics – a real-terms increase of 41 per cent when adjusting for inflation.
The average advertised salary for a doctor was £99,500 in May, up from £52,000 in January 2017. This represents a £21,400 real-terms increase.
The figures, which were compiled by tracking median salaries in online job adverts, show that no group of workers has seen a bigger jump. It comes as resident doctors – previously known as 'junior' – are set to walk out for five days from Friday as they push for a 29 per cent rise.
The ONS data shows doctors' advertised wages have grown twice as fast as those earned by cleaners, which saw the second-largest increase over the period.
Among the biggest losers are pilots, logistics managers and printers. Architects, IT technicians and project managers also command far lower salaries in today's market.
Polling by YouGov shows only a third of the public are behind striking doctors, while half oppose the walkouts.
'Labour has bent over backwards for the unions every chance they have got with no-strings-attached pay rises. It is no surprise they are now running riot. They are out of control.
'Thanks to Labour's weakness, we are now facing a summer of discontent.'
Tory grandee Sir Jeremy Hunt, who was health secretary from 2012 to 2018, said: 'It 's totally ridiculous, having had a 22 per cent pay rise [last year]... for them to be going on strike.'
Millions of patients could be affected by a drawn-out conflict, with five having died because of previous strikes in 2023 and 2024. There are around 70,000 resident doctors working in the NHS.
Mr Streeting has branded the strikes 'unconscionable'.
Talks last week were described as 'constructive', but the BMA has not called off the strikes and said there was only a 'small' chance of a deal.
In a bid to get a deal over the line and head off the strikes, Mr Streeting has pledged that British doctors would be prioritised over foreign counterparts for NHS jobs.
It comes amid wider fears about a 'summer of discontent', with the Birmingham bin strikes set to last beyond summer and teachers threatening to strike.
Hospital consultant doctors are also threatening to join resident doctors. The BMA is demanding they separately get a 35 per cent pay rise.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'The unions are Labour's paymasters at the end of the day. They're getting their payback by being allowed to run riot.
'If we're not careful, we're heading towards all the lessons learned in the 1970s being reversed and the unions just being able to hold the country to ransom and take a wrecking ball to the economy.'
The BMA's accounts detail how the union is gearing up for potentially months-long strike action. Under the heading 'Industrial action reserve', it adds: 'This reserve was created to ring-fence funds identified to contribute towards industrial action.'
The documents also say: 'Contingency plans are in place to fund any long-term industrial action from reserves.' The money could help to cover lost pay or costs incurred by striking doctors.
A BMA spokesman said: 'The BMA has held reserves for industrial action for several years and they are there to contribute towards the costs of industrial action.
'The 'other reserves' outlined in the BMA's annual report to December 2024 are those of the entire BMA Group, not connected to industrial action and have fluctuated little from the previous year.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
37 minutes ago
- Times
Nearly half of doctors in Scotland witness care failings every week
Almost half of Scotland's doctors witness patient safety being compromised at least once a week, the medical regulator has said. The General Medical Council (GMC) found that 46 per cent of clinicians north of the border see care failings weekly, a higher proportion than elsewhere in the UK. Backlogs in accident and emergency departments, resulting in thousands of patients stuck on trolleys for hours queueing for beds, are thought to be one of the issues driving potential errors. Dr Iain Kennedy, chair of the British Medical Association in Scotland, described the findings as extremely alarming and said that the doctor workforce was operating at 'dangerously low levels'. The latest GMC survey showed a reduction in the number of doctors noting safety incidents weekly in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since 2023 — but an increase in Scotland. Its report, published on Thursday, said: 'In 2024, Scotland fared worse than the UK average in some areas — most notably on patient safety.' Dr Sandesh Gulhane, a GP and health spokesman for the Scottish Conservative Party, said emergency measures such as treating patients in corridors had become routine. He added that staff did not always have access to the life-saving equipment they needed and were more prone to making mistakes because of the pressures, compromising patient safety. 'Nearly two decades of chronic SNP mismanagement has brought our health service to its knees and patients are being put in danger as a result,' he said. The GMC, which serves to protect the public by ensuring high standards of medical training and practice UK-wide, analyses staff experiences on the frontline of the NHS every year. Last year 450 doctors in Scotland participated in the survey and a total of 4,700 were involved UK-wide. Asked if they found it difficult to provide sufficient care for a patient at least once a week, 42 per cent in Scotland said they did, compared with 39 per cent in England. Across the UK 40 per cent of doctors said they had witnessed patient safety or care being compromised at least once a week — 6 per cent less than in Scotland. Clinicians in Scotland also felt less empowered to bring about improvements with 40 per cent saying they could not influence change, compared with 35 per cent for the UK as a whole. Just 37 per cent felt supported by non-medical managers, while the figure was 42 per cent UK-wide. Kennedy said: 'BMA Scotland has been warning for some time that doctor workforce provision in Scotland's NHS is at dangerously low levels, which leads to patients having to wait far too long for treatment and doctors who are stretched to breaking point.' 'There is a major question over how waiting lists can be tackled and how any extra capacity in the health service can be delivered when there are not enough consultants to keep up with current demand and while GP practices are struggling to deliver the services their patients deserve. This is a result of the devastating impact of years of underinvestment which has left many GP practices unable to take on more GPs due to a lack of funding.' He added that it was alarming to see from the survey that 22 per cent of doctors in Scotland were likely to consider moving overseas. This was compared with 27 per cent in the UK as a whole. Dame Jackie Baillie, a health spokeswoman for Scottish Labour, said: 'There are exceptional staff in our NHS who work diligently to care for patients. They are the ones raising the alarm about patient safety, so this is a wake-up call for the Scottish government who are far too complacent.' Fiona Hunter, vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said: 'This survey is a barometer of how clinicians are feeling, and what they are experiencing at work — and it reveals a saddening and shocking reality. She said the failures were not the fault of the clinicians. 'They are battling in a struggling system, and despite their best efforts, sadly some patients are being put at risk,' she said. 'The Scottish government must listen to the voices of those in this report — and heed the alarm bells so clearly sounding. Our members, their colleagues, and our patients across the country deserve so much better.' A Scottish government spokesman said: 'Patient safety is paramount and we will ensure any concerns raised by the GMC are fully considered and addressed. 'We want doctors to feel their voices are heard — our Future Medical Workforce project will collect direct feedback from physicians in the coming months to help shape future reforms in training and recruitment and ensure being a doctor is a sustainable and fulfilling career path.'
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
One in five NHS doctors considering leaving UK profession, report warns
The Government's pledge to cut hospital waiting lists is at risk unless more is done to retain doctors in the NHS, the medical regulator has warned. Almost one in five (19%) of doctors are considering quitting being a doctor in the UK, the General Medical Council (GMC) said. And one in eight (12%) are considering leaving the UK to work abroad, according to GMC figures. The main reason given for considering a move abroad was that doctors are 'treated better' in other countries, with an increase in pay cited as the second most common reason for plans to emigrate. Overall, some 43% of doctors told the GMC that they had researched career opportunities in other countries. Some 15% of doctors reported they had taken 'hard steps' towards leaving UK practice – such as applying for roles overseas or contacting recruiters. 'We must be alive to the ongoing risks to retention of doctors and the impact of losing talented staff,' the authors of the GMC's latest report wrote. 'This could threaten Government ambitions to reduce waiting times and deliver better care to patients.' Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged that, by July 2029, 92% of patients will be seen within 18 weeks for routine hospital treatment such as hip and knee replacements. The GMC's latest report also raised concerns about career progression for medics. The report highlighted that 8% of doctors who felt they could progress their career said they were likely to leave the UK medical profession and had taken hard steps towards doing so, compared with 27% of those who did not feel this way. Overall one in three doctors said they are unable to progress their education, training and careers in the way they want, according to the report, which is based on responses from 4,697 doctors around the UK. It found that those who did not feel as though their careers were progressing the way they would wish were at higher risk of burnout and were less satisfied with their work. The GMC said that workloads, competition for posts, and lack of senior support for development are adversely impacting career hopes for UK doctors. Charlie Massey, chief executive of the GMC, said: 'Like any profession, doctors who are disillusioned with their careers will start looking elsewhere. 'Doctors need to be satisfied, supported, and see a hopeful future for themselves, or we may risk losing their talent and expertise altogether. 'Achieving this requires modernising the current training system, so it meets the needs of doctors and patients.' It comes as Health Secretary Wes Streeting and the British Medical Association are locked in talks to avert further strike action by resident doctors after a five-day walkout in July. Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, are in a dispute with the Government over pay and a lack of places for doctors in training. Commenting on the GMC report, Billy Palmer, senior fellow at the Nuffield Trust think tank, said: 'Pay and industrial action have been a lightning rod for dissatisfaction among doctors but this survey puts a spotlight on the wider difficulties facing the medical profession. 'Job guarantees, better rotas and placements, and protection of training time all need to be on the table. 'Addressing the burden of medical graduates' student debt by gradually writing off loans could also be a promising way to reward doctors' NHS service. With fewer than three in five doctors in 'core training' remaining in the NHS eight years later, unless warnings from this survey are dealt with, we'll continue to lose these skilled clinicians.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'The findings in this report are further evidence of what we know, that after more than a decade of neglect, doctors have legitimate complaints about their conditions, including issues with training bottlenecks and career progression. 'We want to work with them to address these and improve their working lives, which includes our plans set out in the 10 Year Health Plan to prioritise UK graduates and increase speciality training posts. 'This Government is committed to improving career opportunities and working conditions, bringing in ways to recognise and reward talent – as well as freeing up clinicians' time by cutting red tape.'
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Why walking further and faster could cut your risk of heart attack and stroke
Walking further and faster could reduce the risk of heart attacks by almost a fifth – even if you don't reach the recommended target of 10,000 steps a day, a study has found. Analysis of more than 36,000 people with high blood pressure revealed walking more reduces the risk of major problems in the heart and blood vessels. The study published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology found that compared to a daily step count of 2,300 steps, every extra 1,000 steps was linked to a 17 per cent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular problems. This was the case up to a step count of 10,000 – walking more than this was associated with a lower risk of stroke. It's estimated that just over a quarter adults in the UK, around 14.4 million people, have high blood pressure, according to the British Heart Foundation. It increases the risk of heart disease, heart attacks, strokes and heart failure, according to the NHS. However, study authors say until now it has been unclear how much people with high blood pressure need to increase their physical activity to see a reduction in these risks. Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, at the University of Sydney, Australia, who supervised the study, said: 'We found that, if you live with high blood pressure, the more you walk with greater intensity, the lower your risk for future serious cardiovascular events. 'These findings support the message that any amount of physical activity is beneficial, even below the widely recommended daily target of 10,000 steps.' Researchers analysed data from 32,192 people with high blood pressure who were part of the UK Biobank study – a cohort study of 500,000 people that collected data on diet, lifestyle, biomarkers, and health. As part of the study these participants agreed to wear an accelerometer on their wrist for seven consecutive days to measure how far and how fast they walked. The participants were followed up for eight years and during this time there were 1,935 cases of heart problems of stroke. After analysing this data researchers discovered for every 1,000 steps a day there was a 17 per cent reduction in overall risk, 22 per cent reduction in heart failure, 9 per cent reduction in risk of heart attack, and 24 per cent reduction in risk of stroke. Researchers also tracked how fast participants walked a day and recorded their fastest 30 minutes at an average of 80 steps a minute which was associated with a 30 per cent reduced risk of heart problems. However, it's not just people with high blood pressure that could benefit. Researchers also found similar results when they looked at 37,350 people without high blood pressure. Every 1,000-step increase in daily step count led to an average lower risk of overall heart problems (20.2 per cent), heart failure (23.2 per cent), myocardial infarctions (17.9 per cent) and stroke (24.6 per cent). Professor Stamatakis said: 'Clinicians should promote physical activity as standard care, especially in patients with high blood pressure. Our results can inform new, tailored public health recommendations for these patients.'
