Doctors striking without warning ‘shockingly irresponsible', says Streeting
Wes Streeting said that if it goes ahead, the strike would be a 'catastrophic mistake' and that any decision by resident doctors not to tell their employers about their intention to strike would be 'shockingly irresponsible'.
Streeting told MPs that BMA leaders seemed to be telling their members 'not to inform their trusts or their employers if they're going out on strike' and that he could not fathom 'how any doctor in good conscience would make it harder for managers to make sure we have safe staffing levels'.
Streeting is due to meet representatives of the BMA on Tuesday ahead of their planned five-day strike starting on 25 July. Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, voted to take the action in pursuit of a 29% pay rise that the union has said was needed to replace lost pay over years of cuts.
Labour has offered resident doctors a 5.4% pay rise this year, after a 22% rise agreed for the previous two years. Speaking at the health and social care select committee on Monday, Streeting said that 'going on strike having received a 28.9% pay increase is not only unreasonable and unnecessary given the progress that we've been making on pay and other issues, it's also self-defeating'.
The figure is based on government calculations that resident doctors have received a 28.9% pay rise over the last three years.
Streeting said there was 'no more room for manoeuvre' on residents doctors' pay but that he was willing to engage on several other union demands including on unemployment and progression into speciality posts.
He warned that any decision by resident doctors not to inform their trusts that they will strike 'would make it harder for other staff who are going to be turning up to work that day, not least the staff who have not had a higher percentage pay rise, many of whom are paid less than resident doctors'.
Streeting warned that while he accepted doctors' right to strike, the 'idea that doctors would go on strike without informing their employer, not allowing planning for safe staffing, I think, is unconscionable, and I would urge resident doctors who are taking part in strike actions to do the right thing'.
He warned the strike would lead to cancellations and delays in patient treatment, and spoke of a family member who was waiting for the 'inevitable' phone call informing them that their procedure would be postponed.
'We can mitigate against the impact of strikes, and we will, but what we cannot do is promise that there will be no consequence and no delay, no further suffering, because there are lots of people whose procedures are scheduled over that weekend period and in the period subsequently, where the NHS has to recover from the industrial action, who will see their operations and appointments delayed,' he said.
'I have a relative in that position. My family are currently dreading what I fear is an inevitable phone call saying that there is going to be a delay to this procedure. And I just think this is an unconscionable thing to do to the public, not least given the 28.9% pay rise.'
The BMA defended resident doctors' pay claim on Monday, saying they did not work through the Covid pandemic only to end up with a real-terms pay cut. '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.
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Times letters: Improving the way the NHS cares for patients
Sir, Jenni Russell's experiences result from a complex reality that sweeps the workforce along like hamsters on a wheel ('NHS needs to return to whole-patient care', Jul 14). Yet another restructuring will not solve the problems. To understand why, start with the fact that – until Margaret Thatcher's introduction of 'a business market' with competing hospital trusts — the NHS was generally based on 'doctor knows best'. This meant that a professionally accountable clinician was directly responsible to a patient or group of patients and the centralised public NHS system supported this. Once trusts were formed, with layers of management and financial silos, the 'business' became managing not the care but the money. Clinicians had to prioritise budgets and politically useful targets or face chastisement by managers. The NHS's business focus should be ensuring people are healthy in their own homes, supported by joined-up services. Instead it is concerned with financial efficiency and meeting targets at the expense of effective outcomes. Bernice Baker Horsham, West Sussex Sir, I came to similar conclusions as Jenni Russell, in my case as an inpatient at the emergency department of one north London hospital and an outpatient at another over the past 12 months. It is vital to develop a culture where nursing staff look out for problems or are at least open, rather than defensive, when one is brought to their attention by a patient. It is very difficult for patients or families to navigate the people, departments and functions of a hospital, which makes it particularly important for any point of contact to pass on a problem brought to them to whoever can deal with it best. Michael Rose London N10 Sir, My recent experience of the NHS confirms Jenni Russell's conclusion about inconsistency of quality in different parts of the country, but also offers an encouraging note. After having pneumonia, I developed a rare, potentially disabling auto-immune condition. This was diagnosed by my GP with stunning speed. She liaised with the A&E department of the local hospital and phoned me to tell me what to do. The A&E consultant confirmed the diagnosis, took me to an emergency bed and called in on me every day during my week in hospital, even though he had handed my care to others. My care was so prompt and effective that I began to recover in near record time. John Schultz Stockport Sir, The job of the independent pay review bodies is to take evidence from the professions about what they are hoping for and then evidence from the government to see what the country can afford. They then issue findings on what they think is fair. Almost without exception, governments find reasons to reject the proposals. If this government has learnt anything from the debacle on doctors' pay it is this: honour the review bodies' findings. John Brown Ret'd GP, Newcastle upon Tyne Sir, The blinkered behaviour of the various groups of hospital staff that Jenni Russell describes was brought home to me when I took a patient I had anaesthetised to the recovery ward. I said to the recovery nurse, 'I'm afraid he's been incontinent and needs a bit of cleaning up.' She replied, 'I'm a graduate. I don't do that sort of thing.' So I asked for a pair of rubber gloves. Jane Stanford Ret'd consultant anaesthetist, London SW13 Sir, As a soldier, one of the few things that you hope you can rely on is that the government has got your back. If you obey lawful orders, adhere to international humanitarian law and the law of the land you should be all right. That bedrock, that fundamental premise, is threatened by the government's desire to rescind parts of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 ('Traumatised by the Troubles', news, Jul 12). 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But Adass said there remains 'uncertainty' about what that figure covers, including whether it takes in the 'much-needed but costly fair pay agreement for care workers', which is yet to be set out by the Government. Ms McGregor repeated a call for social care to be prioritised, saying: 'It's vital that adult social care leaders who are well versed in delivering support at the community level are meaningfully involved in decisions about where and how resources for neighbourhood health and care are spent. 'After all, acute hospitals are not best placed to deliver social care at the neighbourhood level – but councils are.' The Local Government Association (LGA) said the survey results show 'councils are caught in the impossible position' of choosing between meeting people's complex care needs and supporting other's wellbeing to prevent needs escalating. 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A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'We inherited a social care system in crisis but in our first year of government we have taken immediate action to improve this. 'The spending review will allow for increased funding for social care by £4 billion, we have legislated for the first ever fair pay agreement for care workers, and Baroness Casey has begun her work on the independent commission into adult social care to build a National Care Service that is fair and affordable for all. 'We have also invested £172 million extra in the Disabled Facilities Grant to deliver around an extra 15,000 home adaptations and given unpaid carers a £2,000 uplift to their allowance.'
