Latest news with #junordoctors
The Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Doctor leading campaign for pay rises and strike action has TWO firms backing walkouts
A TOP doctor campaigning for pay rises and strike action has a sideline running two start-up companies, we can reveal. Cardiologist Dr U Bhalraam is deputy co-chairman of the British Medical Association's resident doctors committee — which is backing six more months of walkouts. It is urging members to strike, claiming they are paid 23 per cent less in real terms than in 2008. This is despite resident doctors — formerly known as junior doctors — getting an almost 30 per cent pay rise over the past three years. On his website, Dr Bhalraam says he's 'focused on full pay restoration'. But The Sun on Sunday has found that Dr Bhalraam has also set up two firms of which he is sole director and owner. He launched Datamed Solutions Ltd, a data processing company, last June and just a few days later UBR Property Holdings Limited, which is described as a letting company. They are both registered to his smart £330,000 house in Norwich, where he works at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Resident docs have taken industrial action 11 times since 2022, causing about 1.5million appointments to be cancelled. A YouGov poll of 4,100 adults found almost half oppose the strikes. 1
Telegraph
7 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Resident doctors lose public support for strikes after bumper pay rises
Resident doctors have lost the public's support to strike after receiving inflation-busting pay rises, a poll has suggested. The medics, formerly known as junior doctors, are currently voting on staging another six months of walkouts despite receiving an almost 30 per cent pay rise within three years. The British Medical Association's (BMA) resident doctors' committee is urging members to vote in favour of strike action, claiming they are paid 23 per cent less in real-terms than they were in 2008. A new poll of 4,100 British adults by YouGov found that 48 per cent of Britons oppose resident doctors going on strike, while just 39 per cent support them taking action. The pollsters said this 'marks a shift in opinion' of public support with a survey last summer finding 52 per cent of Britons were in support of striking junior doctors. The doctors have taken to picket lines on 11 separate occasions since beginning industrial action. Last week it was announced they would receive an inflation-busting 5.4 per cent pay rise for this financial year, double what was initially budgeted for by the Government and more than the 3.6 per cent given to other staff. This follows a 22 per cent uplift that the BMA's members voted to accept from Labour last year to end its dispute. But less than a year later they are threatening to go on strike again with a ballot set to close on July 7. If they choose to go on strike, then walk outs could begin in July and could potentially last until January 2026. Conservative MPs told The Telegraph how Labour's decision to 'cave in' to unions on winning the general election last year emboldened them. Edward Argar, the Tory shadow health secretary, said Labour 'were warned that caving in to union demands last year for above-inflation pay rises, with no strings attached, risked fuelling further disruption'. Steve Barclay, the former Conservative health secretary, said the Government had 'repeatedly caved in to demands in its first year, whether indicating this week to its backbenchers on the two-child benefit payments, to their trade union paymasters without improvements in productivity and to trade partners like the EU on fishing and with the Chagos Island payments.' The pay rises for NHS staff on the agenda for change banding system – which does not include doctors – is set to cost the Government an extra £1 billion per year alone. The YouGov poll also highlighted that Labour supporters were most supportive of strike action, with Conservative voters most likely to oppose them. A leading patients' organisation said it was 'deeply concerned' about the prospect of strike action over the busy winter period in the NHS. Rachel Power, the chief executive of the Patients' Association, called for both sides to resolve the dispute quickly after the last series of industrial action 'caused so much harm to patients', delaying millions of appointments and costing more than £2 billion. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, said on Tuesday that he understood 'the anxiety and anger that resident doctors have felt and continue to feel about their part of the profession'. 'That's why, within weeks of coming into office, I was determined to resolve the pay dispute and give resident doctors a substantial pay rise. That's now being followed by another above-inflation average pay award of 5.4 per cent,' he said. 'The result is that resident doctors have seen their pay increase by 28.9 per cent compared to three years ago. The average starting salary of a full-time resident doctor is now around £38,800 - up nearly £9,500 since 2022/23. 'I want to work in partnership with resident doctors to deliver the change that the NHS is crying out for.'
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The Independent
7 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Are doctors right to threaten more NHS strikes over pay? Join The Independent Debate
With ballots now open for strike action, the simmering dispute over NHS doctors' pay has reignited tensions between the government and frontline medics, and the country is once again facing the prospect of disruption to patient care. At the heart of the row is a new government pay offer: an average 5.4 per cent rise for resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, and a £750 lump sum. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has insisted it is a step on a longer 'journey' to fix pay and has urged doctors not to derail progress on reducing NHS waiting lists, warning that strikes should remain a 'last resort.' But the British Medical Association says the offer falls far short. With real-terms pay down more than 20 per cent over 17 years, and record numbers of doctors leaving the profession, union leaders have insisted that the time for half-measures is over. While Mr Streeting has admitted the NHS has treated doctors 'like crap', without real change, many have argued that such acknowledgements ring hollow. Supporters of the strike say enough is enough: the NHS cannot be rebuilt on goodwill alone. Critics, meanwhile, fear that further walkouts risk harming patients and reversing hard-won gains on waiting lists. As the ballot continues and strike dates loom, we want to hear from you: should doctors strike, or is the cost to patients too high? How can the NHS attract – and keep – talented staff? We want to hear from you. Share your thoughts on the assisted dying bill in the comments and vote in the poll below – we'll feature the most compelling responses and discuss the results in the coming days. All you have to do is sign up and register your details – then you can take part in the debate. You can also sign up by clicking 'log in' on the top right-hand corner of the screen.
The Independent
27-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Resident doctors start receiving ballots for strike action
Resident doctors in England are being balloted for further strike action after criticising the Government 's latest pay offer. Ballots began arriving on Tuesday, following the Government's announcement last week of a 4 per cent pay rise for most doctors, with resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, receiving an additional £750. The ballot will close on July 7, and a mandate for action would last until January 2025. The British Medical Association (BMA), the union representing doctors, argues that this increase is insufficient to address the impact of previous pay freezes. While urging members to vote for strike action, the BMA's junior doctor committee co-chairs emphasised that negotiations with the Government remain a possibility. Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said: 'Last week the Government finally told us what it would do to restore the pay of doctors: almost nothing. 'Doctors have seen their pay decline by 23 per cent in real terms since 2008. No doctor today is worth less than they were then, but at the rate the Government is offering it would be over a decade before we once again reached that level of pay. 'As ballots once again fall through doctors' letterboxes, we are simply saying: the NHS does not have that time. Waiting lists are too high, too many people can't see their GP, too many patients are being treated in corridors. 'Doctors need to be kept in the country and in their career not in 10 or 20 years' time, but now.' They continued: 'We are urging doctors to vote yes to strike action. By voting yes they will be telling the Government there is no alternative to fixing pay – this cannot wait for different fiscal circumstances and a healthier NHS. The answer is to fix it today. 'While doctors continue to return these ballots however, our door is always open. ' Wes Streeting has made clear he knows the value of dialogue over division. Instead of repeating the mistakes of his predecessors, he can come to us with a solution now. Even if doctors vote for industrial action, with the right approach not a single picket line need ever form.' The increase, recommended by an independent pay review body, is above the rate of inflation, which jumped to 3.5 per cent in April, up from 2.6 per cent in March and the highest since January 2024. But Professor Philip Banfield, the BMA's chairman of council, warned shortly after the Government's announcement that the union was already considering strike action, believing the pay rise does not do enough to restore doctors' pay after previous salary freezes. 'Doctors' pay is still around a quarter less than it was in real terms 16 years ago and today's 'award' delays pay restoration even more, without a government plan or reassurance to correct this erosion of what a doctor is worth,' he said. Mr Streeting said: 'I understand the anxiety and anger that resident doctors have felt and continue to feel about their part of the profession – over 14 years, they saw the NHS that they were working in slide into crisis. 'That's why, within weeks of coming into office, I was determined to resolve the pay dispute and give resident doctors a substantial pay rise. That's now being followed by another above-inflation average pay award of 5.4 per cent (which includes the top up). 'The result is that resident doctors have seen their pay increase by 28.9 per cent compared to three years ago. The average starting salary of a full-time Resident Doctor is now around £38,800 – up nearly £9,500 since 2022-23. 'I want to work in partnership with resident doctors to deliver the change that the NHS is crying out for. Together, we have made great progress – in the past ten months, through our Plan for Change, we have worked with staff to cut waiting lists by over 200,000 and put the NHS on the road to recovery – let's not stop now.' In an interview with the BBC, the Health Secretary called on junior doctors to 'vote no' and 'work with the government', warning strikes could put efforts to rebuild the NHS at risk. 'I don't think strikes are in their interests, in patients' interests, and I certainly don't think it's in the interest of the NHS overall,' he said. Resident doctor is the new term for junior doctor and refers to more than 50,000 qualified doctors working in GP practices and hospitals, from graduates to medics with a decade of experience. NHS England estimates the walkouts led to almost 1.5 million appointments being cancelled or rescheduled.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Nobody is happy with the NHS. But another big pay rise for doctors is not the answer
Less than 10 months after receiving a mammoth 22 per cent pay rise, junior doctors are once again voting on strikes. The repeated cycle of walkouts and pay rises has already stretched public patience thin; balloting on a possible strike prior to any actual pay offer being made is unlikely to improve matters. Nor, indeed, is the doctors' branding of the Supreme Court ruling that trans women are not legally women 'scientifically illiterate' and 'biologically nonsensical'. While doctors may be happy to flout public opinion, however, it is difficult to disagree with Health Secretary Wes Streeting's view that this ballot is 'premature'. Clearly, space should be given to negotiations to play out. For his part, Mr Streeting may be regretting the decision to grant doctors a pay rise last year without making it contingent on the sweeping reforms necessary to lift NHS productivity. The repeated strikes and issues with remuneration are a symptom of the wider failings of a centralised healthcare system. Productivity in the health service, by some measures, remains below its 2019 levels, and it is difficult to justify pay rises when output is stagnant. Moreover, the dominant position of the NHS in the labour market for healthcare workers means that there are few outside alternatives for doctors to turn to beyond emigration, breeding understandable frustration. Further strikes seeking unaffordable pay rises, however, will not resolve this problem, and will only erode public support and sympathy. If the junior doctors want a more lasting solution, they may wish to take to the pickets and call for the reform of the NHS along Australian or Dutch lines. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
