Latest news with #JimMackey
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
NHS chief accuses BMA of ‘extortion'
The head of the NHS attacked the British Medical Association (BMA) for demanding 'extortionate pay' amid a strike row. Sir Jim Mackey, the NHS chief executive, criticised the doctors' union in a message to NHS hospital trust leaders. Junior – now resident – doctors have entered the last of a five-day strike that began on Friday. The BMA has rejected 18 emergency requests by NHS hospitals for striking doctors to cross the picket line and help. Hospitals are able to make emergency requests for help to striking doctors – called 'derogations' – to help stop patients coming to harm, such as in emergency departments and cancer care. However, Sir Jim said that of the 18 rejected requests, the BMA would only support half of these 'if extortionate pay rates were offered to striking doctors'. In a message seen by The Telegraph, he said they had worked to 'overhaul the process for patient safety mitigations' with nine requests approved by Sunday night. But he added: 'Unfortunately, despite all requests being made and verified by senior medics, 18 have been rejected by the BMA, with half of those rejections saying the BMA would support only if extortionate pay rates were offered to striking doctors.' He encouraged NHS bosses to keep putting them forward where they were needed. The exemptions are requested by senior NHS medics in exceptional circumstances to protect patient safety and must be agreed on a case-by-case basis by BMA leaders, including chairman, Dr Tom Dolphin. As of Sunday evening, there had been 47 requests for 125 doctors, according to the BMA. Some are pending or were withdrawn. The resident doctors are demanding a 29 per cent pay rise to return them to 2008 levels of pay. They have been awarded a 28.9 per cent pay rise since Labour came into power, including a 5.4 per cent rise for this financial year. Nurses, who are expected to overwhelmingly vote to reject their 3.6 per cent pay rise, could also ballot to take industrial action later this year. One emergency request rejected by the BMA was for a resident doctor to carry out biopsies on men with suspected prostate cancer at Milton Keynes Hospital. The doctor subsequently volunteered to return to work and was praised by Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, for their 'bravery'. He said it 'ensured these men got the care they deserve'. Of the requests granted by the BMA, one was for a doctor to return to work on a neonatal ward caring for new born babies in Nottingham City Hospital. The BMA said it was launching a separate, related dispute with the Government over 'training bottlenecks'. A survey of 1,053 resident doctors finishing their foundation training found that 52 per cent had not secured a job for next month. After two years of foundation training, resident doctors begin speciality training to become consultants or GPs. The BMA said this year there had been more than 30,000 doctors applying for just 10,000 posts. Dr Ross Nieuwoudt and Dr Melissa Ryan, BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs said:'It's absurd that in a country where the Government says bringing down NHS waiting lists is one of its top priorities, not only is it not prepared to restore doctors' pay, but it also won't provide jobs for doctors ready, willing and capable to progress in their careers. 'Commitments from the Government to address this don't go far enough or are too vague to convince us that they understand the gravity of the situation, so we're making clear that, alongside pay, we are entering a dispute and demanding action so that no UK-trained, capable, doctor is left underemployed in the NHS.' It comes as health workers represented by the trade union, Unite, voted to reject the 3.6 per cent pay award for this financial year. Some 89 per cent rejected the deal, with the union saying it was prepared to take strike action. It represents a range of NHS staff including paramedics, healthcare assistants, and cleaners. Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: 'When it came into power this Government was clear that the NHS was broken. But staff are still leaving in droves and morale is still at an all-time low. The NHS can't be repaired while the Government continues to erode pay and drastically cut NHS budgets.' Health workers in the GMB union have also rejected the pay deal while the Royal College of Nursing is due to announce a ballot of its members this week.
Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Times
BMA ‘risking lives' by blocking emergency strike exemptions
The NHS has accused the British Medical Association (BMA) of 'risking patient safety' by refusing emergency requests to allow striking doctors to cross picket lines and return to work. Since a five-day junior doctor strike began on Friday morning, the BMA has rejected 18 requests from NHS hospitals for doctors to break the strike to stop patients coming to harm, including in cancer care. The exemptions, known as 'derogations', are requested by senior NHS medics in exceptional circumstances to protect patient safety, such as if there is a major accident. They have to be agreed on a case-by-case basis by a committee of BMA leaders, including Dr Tom Dolphin, the union's chairman, who specifies whether a doctor can go back to a particular ward. The BMA said that NHS England made 47 derogation requests up until Sunday evening for 125 doctors, but that it had only agreed to nine of these requests. The remaining requests have been refused, withdrawn or are pending. Thousands of resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, are out on strike until 7am on Wednesday as they pursue a 29 per cent pay rise. Hospitals were instructed to cancel as few procedures and appointments as they can safely manage, to minimise disruption for patients and prevent harmful delays to routine care, meaning some have kept 96 per cent of appointments running. As part of this tougher approach to the BMA, Jim Mackey, the NHS chief executive, also encouraged hospitals to seek derogations in more circumstances. However, the BMA has said it will not approve the requests if they are for 'non-urgent care' and that the record number of derogation requests reflects a 'dangerous lack of planning' by NHS hospitals. An NHS spokesman said: 'The NHS is continuing to work hard to maintain more services than in previous rounds of industrial action, and early indications show the plan is working with the vast majority of planned care going ahead. 'Derogation requests for resident doctors to work in exceptional circumstances are being made by the most senior clinical teams on the ground, and delays or refusals by the British Medical Association questions their integrity and risks patient safety.' Requests rejected by the BMA include for a resident doctor to carry out biopsies on men with suspected prostate cancer at Milton Keynes Hospital. The doctor subsequently voluntarily decided to break the strike to return to work, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, praised their 'bravery' and said it 'ensured these men got the care they deserve'. The BMA has granted requests, including for a doctor to return to work on the neonatal ward at Nottingham City Hospital. Three BMA members were also allowed to work an A&E night shift at the Northern General in Sheffield, which the union said was 'due to the failure to train consultants' on a new electronic patient record system. In another case, King's College Hospital in London had a derogation agreed for its radiology department, but the BMA then revoked it and said the hospital had made a 'false submission'. King's said its request was made in good faith. • Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, the BMA's resident doctors committee co-chairs said: 'Patient safety remains our highest priority during strike action. We rely on NHS England to ensure that safety by planning services in line with the levels of staffing available. If a critical event or an emergency occurs, we work with them to make sure staff can be called back into work on a voluntary basis. This agreement — called a national derogations process — is there strictly to be used should a safety-critical, urgent event occur. It is deeply irresponsible for hospitals to use it to facilitate non-urgent care or cover for poor planning on their part. 'Unfortunately, the number of derogation requests during this strike round has greatly exceeded that in previous rounds, far more even than NHSE [NHS England] are publicly acknowledging. We therefore have to question why NHSE has failed to plan properly. So far, we have had to revoke two derogations where it was proven that the hospital had either been misinformed about their own staffing, or had deliberately misled us. 'We need NHS England to be honest about their failure to plan appropriately which has led to Trusts relying on the BMA to bail them out. It is imperative that this does not happen again for any future strike action — which we hope will not be necessary.' • Kemi Badenoch says Tories would ban doctors from going on strike Streeting has thanked staff working to minimise disruption and insisted the country 'will not be held to ransom by the leadership of the BMA'. He added: 'I particularly want to thank resident doctors who didn't take part in these strikes and went into work to help their colleagues and patients. 'I've been on calls with operational leaders and frontline clinicians, and I've been inspired by the stories of what NHS staff are doing to pick up the slack left by striking resident doctors. I've also spoken with patients directly affected by their actions.'
Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Times
BMA accused of risking lives by blocking emergency strike exemptions
The NHS has accused the British Medical Association (BMA) of 'risking patient safety' by refusing emergency requests to allow striking doctors to cross picket lines and return to work. Since a five-day junior doctor strike began on Friday morning, the BMA has rejected 18 requests from NHS hospitals for doctors to break the strike to stop patients coming to harm, including in cancer care. The exemptions, known as 'derogations', are requested by senior NHS medics in exceptional circumstances to protect patient safety, such as if there is a major accident. They have to be agreed on a case-by-case basis by a committee of BMA leaders, including Dr Tom Dolphin, the union's chairman, who specifies whether a doctor can go back to a particular ward. The BMA said that NHS England made 47 derogation requests up until Sunday evening for 125 doctors, but that it had only agreed to nine of these requests. The remaining requests have been refused, withdrawn or are pending. Thousands of resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, are out on strike until 7am on Wednesday as they pursue a 29 per cent pay rise. Hospitals were instructed to cancel as few procedures and appointments as they can safely manage, to minimise disruption for patients and prevent harmful delays to routine care, meaning some have kept 96 per cent of appointments running. As part of this tougher approach to the BMA, Jim Mackey, the NHS chief executive, also encouraged hospitals to seek derogations in more circumstances. However, the BMA has said it will not approve the requests if they are for 'non-urgent care' and that the record number of derogation requests reflects a 'dangerous lack of planning' by NHS hospitals. An NHS spokesman said: 'The NHS is continuing to work hard to maintain more services than in previous rounds of industrial action, and early indications show the plan is working with the vast majority of planned care going ahead. 'Derogation requests for resident doctors to work in exceptional circumstances are being made by the most senior clinical teams on the ground, and delays or refusals by the British Medical Association questions their integrity and risks patient safety.' Requests rejected by the BMA include for a resident doctor to carry out biopsies on men with suspected prostate cancer at Milton Keynes Hospital. The doctor subsequently voluntarily decided to break the strike to return to work, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, praised their 'bravery' and said it 'ensured these men got the care they deserve'. The BMA has granted requests, including for a doctor to return to work on the neonatal ward at Nottingham City Hospital. Three BMA members were also allowed to work an A&E night shift at the Northern General in Sheffield, which the union said was 'due to the failure to train consultants' on a new electronic patient record system. In another case, King's College Hospital in London had a derogation agreed for its radiology department, but the BMA then revoked it and said the hospital had made a 'false submission'. King's said its request was made in good faith. • Striking doctor called off picket line to treat 'very sick' babies Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, the BMA's resident doctors committee co-chairs said: 'Patient safety remains our highest priority during strike action. We rely on NHS England to ensure that safety by planning services in line with the levels of staffing available. If a critical event or an emergency occurs, we work with them to make sure staff can be called back into work on a voluntary basis. This agreement — called a national derogations process — is there strictly to be used should a safety-critical, urgent event occur. It is deeply irresponsible for hospitals to use it to facilitate non-urgent care or cover for poor planning on their part. 'Unfortunately, the number of derogation requests during this strike round has greatly exceeded that in previous rounds, far more even than NHSE [NHS England] are publicly acknowledging. We therefore have to question why NHSE has failed to plan properly. So far, we have had to revoke two derogations where it was proven that the hospital had either been misinformed about their own staffing, or had deliberately misled us. 'We need NHS England to be honest about their failure to plan appropriately which has led to Trusts relying on the BMA to bail them out. It is imperative that this does not happen again for any future strike action — which we hope will not be necessary.' • Kemi Badenoch says Tories would ban doctors from going on strike Streeting has thanked staff working to minimise disruption and insisted the country 'will not be held to ransom by the leadership of the BMA'. He added: 'I particularly want to thank resident doctors who didn't take part in these strikes and went into work to help their colleagues and patients. 'I've been on calls with operational leaders and frontline clinicians, and I've been inspired by the stories of what NHS staff are doing to pick up the slack left by striking resident doctors. I've also spoken with patients directly affected by their actions.'
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland overwhelmingly reject 3.6% pay rise
Nurses have overwhelmingly rejected the government's 'grotesque' 3.6% pay award for this year, in a move that could lead to the NHS facing further strikes. Royal College of Nursing members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have voted by a large majority against accepting the award in an indicative vote run by the union. The RCN previously called the 3.6% figure 'grotesque', said that it would be 'entirely swallowed up by inflation' and highlighted that it was less than doctors and teachers were given. Well-placed sources say the results of the union's online survey of 345,000 members in the three countries, which is due later this week, will show a 'clear' rejection of the award. That will increase the possibility that the NHS in different parts of the UK could face an autumn or winter of renewed disruption by staff unhappy about their pay, as it did in late 2023 and early 2024. Resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – in England are on the fourth day of a five-day strike in pursuit of their claim for a 29% pay rise. In addition, NHS staff in England belonging to the GMB union, including ambulance crews, last week rejected their 3.6% award in a consultative vote. Sir Jim Mackey, the chief executive of NHS England, has warned that 'continued disruption over the coming months could see a snowball effect for patients and for staff' as a result of doctors continuing to strike until the end of the year and other unions staging walkouts too. A spokesperson for the RCN said: 'The results will be announced to our members later this week. As the largest part of the NHS workforce, nursing staff do not feel valued and the government must urgently begin to turn that around.' Nurses have seen the real-terms value of their pay eroded by a quarter since 2010/11, as a result of low pay awards and rising inflation, the union says. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, announced in May that he was giving nurses a 3.6% pay increase for 2025-26. The devolved governments in Cardiff and Belfast have also awarded the same sum. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The RCN will not follow the results of its indicative vote by then staging a legal ballot for industrial action, in contrast to the British Medical Association, the doctors' union. They will instead ask ministers to talk to them about a range of changes to nurses' terms and conditions, including better financial support for nursing students to address a fall in applications and changes to Agenda for Change, the longstanding pay structure for UK-wide non-medical NHS staff. The BMA has also begun seeking the views of consultants – senior hospital doctors – and middle-grade medics in England on the 4% pay rise they were given for this year in a consultative vote, which it called 'an insult'.
Leader Live
6 days ago
- Health
- Leader Live
Streeting: We are doing everything we can to minimise patient harm during strike
A five-day walkout by resident doctors in England is under way, with members of the British Medical Association (BMA) manning picket lines across the country. The Health Secretary condemned the strike as 'reckless' and said the Government would not allow the BMA to 'hold the country to ransom'. Asked about the risk of patient harm during a visit to NHS England HQ in London, he told the PA news agency on Friday: 'I'm really proud of the way that NHS leaders and frontline staff have prepared and mobilised to minimise the disruption and minimise the risk of harm to patients. 'We've seen an extraordinary response, including people cancelling their leave, turning up for work, and resident doctors themselves ignoring their union to be there for patients. I'm extremely grateful to all of them. 'What I can't do today is guarantee that there will be no disruption and that there is no risk of harm to patients. 'We are doing everything we can to minimise it, but the risk is there, and that is why the BMA's action is so irresponsible. 'They had a 28.9% pay award from this Government in our first year, there was also an offer to work with them on other things that affect resident doctors – working lives – and that's why I think this is such reckless action. 'This Government will not allow the BMA to hold the country to ransom, and we will continue to make progress on NHS improvement, as we've done in our first year.' Asked about next steps and the continued threat of doctor strikes, given the BMA has a six-month mandate to call more industrial action, Mr Streeting said: 'When the BMA asks, 'what's the difference between a Labour government and a Conservative government?', I would say a 28.9% pay rise and a willingness to work together to improve the working conditions and lives of doctors. 'That is why the public and other NHS staff cannot understand why the BMA have chosen to embark on this totally unnecessary, reckless strike action.' It comes as NHS chief executive Sir Jim Mackey told broadcasters on Friday about his different approach to managing the strike, including keeping as much pre-planned care going as possible rather than just focusing on emergency care. 'So the difference this time is the NHS has put a huge effort in to try and get back on its feet,' he said at NHS England HQ in London. 'As everybody's been aware, we've had a really tough period, and you really feel colleagues on the ground, local clinical leaders, clinical operational colleagues etc, really pulling together to try and get the NHS back on its feet. 'And we also learned from the last few rounds of industrial action that harm to patients and disruption to patients was much broader than the original definitions. So we've decided to say it needs to be a broader definition. We can't just focus on that small subset of care. 'Colleagues in the service have tried to keep as much going as humanly possible as well, and the early signs are that that's been achieved so far, but it is early doors. 'In the end, capacity will have to be constrained by the numbers of people we've actually got who do just turn up for work, and what that means in terms of safe provision, because the thing that colleagues won't compromise is safety in the actual delivery. But it does look like people have really heard that. 'They're really pulling together to maximise the range of services possible.' Asked about further strikes, he said: 'It is possible. I would hope not. I would hope after this, we'll be able to get people in a room and resolve the issue. 'But if we are in this with a six month mandate, we could be doing this once a month for the next next six months, but we've got to organise ourselves accordingly.' Asked why he was not willing to bump pay from what the BMA calculates is £18 an hour to £22 per hour, Mr Streeting told broadcasters: 'I think the public can see, and other NHS staff can see the willingness this Government showed from day one coming into office to try and deal with what had been over a decade of failure on behalf of the previous government, working with resident doctors to improve their pay and to improve the NHS. 'That's why resident doctors had a 28.9% pay award, and that's why the disruption they are inflicting on the country is so unnecessary and so irresponsible.' Mr Streeting said 'we know there'll be real challenges over the next five days'. He added that patients, particularly those who end up waiting a long time for care due to strikes, 'do come to harm, and however much the BMA try and sugarcoat it, what they are fundamentally doing today is forgetting the three words that should be at the forefront of every doctor's minds every day, which is, 'do no harm'.' On whether strikes are going to become the 'new normal', he added: 'As I've said before, the BMA have had a 28.9% pay award from this Government, and we were willing to go further to help on some of the working conditions that doctors face. 'That offer of joint working, that partnership approach, that hasn't gone away, but it does take two to tango, and I hope that the BMA will reflect very carefully on the disruption they are inflicting on patients, the pressures they're putting on their colleagues, and the circumstances in which they are doing so – a 28.9% pay rise and a government that was willing to work with them. 'Those are not grounds for strike action.' It comes after Sir Keir Starmer made a last-minute appeal to resident doctors, saying the strikes would 'cause real damage'. He added: 'Most people do not support these strikes. They know they will cause real damage… 'These strikes threaten to turn back the clock on progress we have made in rebuilding the NHS over the last year, choking off the recovery.' The BMA has argued that real-terms pay has fallen by around 20% since 2008, and is pushing for full 'pay restoration'. The union took out national newspaper adverts on Friday, saying it wanted to 'make clear that while a newly qualified doctor's assistant is taking home over £24 per hour, a newly qualified doctor with years of medical school experience is on just £18.62 per hour'. BMA council chairman Dr Tom Dolphin told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the union had been expecting more pay for doctors. He said: 'Where we were last year when we started the pay campaign, we were down a third on our pay compared to 2008. 'So you've got last year's pay offer which did indeed move us towards (pay restoration), but Wes Streeting himself said that pay restoration is a journey, not an event, implying that there would be further pay restoration to come, and we were expecting our pay to be restored in full – that's our campaign's goal. 'We got part way there, but then that came to a halt this year – we've only had an offer that brings us up, just to catch up with inflation.' Asked what it would take for doctors to go back to work, he said the BMA needed to see 'a clear, guaranteed pathway' to pay restoration. He added that 'it's very disappointing to see a Labour Government taking such a hard line against trade unions'. Elsewhere, the Nottingham City Hospital – where Dr Melissa Ryan, co-chairwoman of the BMA's resident doctors' committee works in paediatrics – reached an agreement with the BMA to exempt one doctor from the strike to work on the neonatal intensive care unit. Speaking from a London picket line, Dr Ryan told The Times: 'I do know that we've granted a derogation already. It is actually at my work, with the babies on one of the neonatal units I work on. That is because it is an intensive care unit for babies. 'We don't have enough senior staff to cover the doctors that aren't there, the residents. And actually, it is important to us that those very sick babies get a lot of care. So we have granted a resident doctor to go back.' The BMA said it had also agreed a derogation for two anaesthetists to work at University Hospital Lewisham on Saturday to ensure patient safety. Louise Stead, group chief executive of Ashford and St Peter's and Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trusts, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that around 500 appointments were being rescheduled 'but we are continuing to do about 96% of the work we've had planned'.
