
Resident doctors deserve real-terms pay rise after working through Covid, says BMA
Wes Streeting is due to meet British Medical Association (BMA) representatives this week as he looks to avert five days of strikes in England due to start on 25 July. Doctors voted to take the action in pursuit of a 29% pay rise which the BMA has said is needed to replace what they have lost over years of cuts.
'We are still down compared to even the pandemic in 2020,' Emma Runswick, a resident doctor in Greater Manchester and deputy chair of the BMA council, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday.
She said doctors' 'reward' for working to get the country through Covid was a 'real-terms pay cut' – suggesting this was not the treatment they had expected during the days when people lined their streets to clap for health workers.
Runswick was asked why the BMA had chosen to base its pay claim on the retail prices index (RPI) – a measure of inflation the Office for National Statistics no longer considers official – rather than the consumer price inflation (CPI), which is official and tends to be lower.
She told the programme the government still uses RPI 'when it suits them' – including for calculating how much people's train fares, car-related taxes and the rates paid on debts such as student loans – increase by each year. Therefore, she suggested, it was fair to take into account the effects of those on resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, when determining their pay claim.
Speaking to the Guardian last week, the BMA's new chair, Tom Dolphin, said the union would not negotiate on the figure, which simply restored doctors' losses since 2008, rather than increasing their pay.
He blamed the five-day strike on Streeting agreeing to a 22% pay rise over two years last year, but not following it up with an award this year to take account of the 29% claim.
'Our expectation was that the [22%] would be the start of a journey that would keep us going until we'd reached the value we had in 2008. So, clearly, the return of value has stopped and now it's just marching on the spot. And we need to carry on that journey. It [29%] is reasonable because it's based on the loss of value that we've had. The number is this big because [previous] governments serially ignored the BMA when we said this is building up a problem.'
Asked if unions such as the BMA and Royal College of Nursing would be handed whatever pay rises they wanted, the chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, said: 'No, because – of course – public sector pay has to be affordable in the context of the broader economy. That's why we need to make sure that we have a strong and resilient economy that is growing in order to have the tax receipts to pay for our public services. Public sector workers know that.'
When Labour entered government, Jones said, the Conservative administration 'weren't even talking to public sector workers'. He added: 'We've reset that relationship. We've honoured pay review body recommendations, which are an independent process in line with our affordability guidelines. And we have to be clear with the pay review bodies and public sector workers what is and isn't affordable, which is what we've done.'

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Why you can trust Sky News Doctors in England and Wales go on strike for five days from Friday, with warnings it could lead to patient harm in emergency departments. It is the culmination of an escalating row between NHS bosses and the British Medication Association (BMA) over pay. Here is everything you need to know about the strikes. How long is the strike? From 7am on Friday 25 July to 7am on Wednesday 30 July. Who is striking? Up to 50,000 resident doctors will walk out. Resident doctors is the new name for junior doctors - it was changed to better reflect their responsibilities. Resident doctors are fully qualified doctors who are either currently in postgraduate training or gaining experience as locally employed doctors to become consultants, GPs or specialists. Their title was changed after years of calls for the term "junior" to be retired, as it was seen as both misleading and demeaning. General practice, community pharmacies, and dentistry are not impacted by the action. How will it affect appointments? During previous strikes, NHS England told trusts to cancel large volumes of non-urgent care so that consultants could step in to cover emergency care. Previous rounds of industrial action - 11 walkouts over multiple days - saw an estimated 1.5 million appointments cancelled or rescheduled. But under the leadership of new NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey, hospitals have now been instructed to cancel non-urgent work only in "exceptional circumstances" – and only with prior approval. This suggests that much fewer planned appointments will be cancelled, although no exact figures have been given by either side. The BMA has warned this new approach risks spreading doctors too thinly. How will I know if my appointment has been cancelled? Patients have been advised to "choose healthcare wisely" during the strike. If your appointment has been cancelled, or rearranged, you will be contacted by the hospital directly. Priority will be given to patients with the most pressing health needs. 2:27 If you do not hear that your appointment has been changed, you should attend as usual. Will I still be able to access emergency care? If you need emergency care during the strike you should still go to hospital as normal. Patients have been told to call 999 if it is a medical or mental health emergency. If the situation is non-life threatening, patients should seek support through NHS 111, NHS 111 online, their GP or a pharmacy. Why are they striking? Doctors in England and Wales were awarded a 5.4% pay increase by the government, but the BMA still threatened strike action, claiming the increases did not account for historical pay freezes. Instead the BMA is calling for a rise of 29.2% to bring salaries back in line with 2008 levels. More than 26,000 resident doctors voted in favour of the strikes. I thought they already had a pay rise? 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The survey found about half (52%) of people in the UK either "somewhat oppose" (20%) or "strongly oppose" (32%) the idea of resident doctors going on strike over pay. Older people are more likely to be against, with 52% of those aged over 65 "strongly opposed", compared to 10% of those aged 18 to 24. YouGov says the proportion of people who support the strikes has dropped five percentage points since May last year. What does the government say? Talks between the government and BMA have continued, with the latter saying strikes could still be avoided. Health secretary Wes Streeting has ruled out any additional pay rises this year, but has said other aspects of the contract - including student debt, exam fees and working conditions - may be up for negotiation. 2:50 Mr Streeting previously warned the BMA the public "will not forgive" strike action. 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