The British Medical Association is asking the government to improve its pay offer to consultants in England after members voted against it.
Last week, Rishi Sunak was bragging that NHS doctors had accepted his pay offer. This vote shows he was trying to pull the wool over the public’s eyes” – Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary
BMA consultant members voted 51.1% against the offer in a referendum that closed on 23 January.
The BMA’s consultants committee has consequently rejected the offer but says it is giving the government an opportunity to improve it so it may be acceptable to members.
Dr Vishal Sharma, BMA consultants committee chair, said: “The vote has shown that consultants do not feel the current offer goes far enough to end the current dispute and offer a long-term solution to the recruitment and retention crisis for senior doctors.
“It backs up conversations we’ve had with colleagues in recent weeks, who felt the changes were insufficient and did not give them confidence that pay erosion would be addressed over the coming years. In addition, they were concerned about the fairness of the offer and how it impacted different groups of doctors. There were also clear concerns about changes to professional development time, and time dedicated to teaching and research.”
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Earlier this month, consultant members of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association also rejected that pay offer, which would have seen changes to the pay spine. Under the proposed deal a minority of consultants would have received no extra pay, while others would receive as much as 12.8% extra. The average increase would have been 4.95%.
Sharma added: “With the result so close, the consultants committee is giving the government a chance to improve the offer.
“In the coming days we will be further engaging with consultants, and seeking talks with government to explore whether the concerns expressed by our members during the referendum process can be addressed.”
Health secretary Victoria Atkinson said: “I am disappointed that after weeks of constructive negotiations the BMA has, by the narrowest of margins, rejected this fair and reasonable offer.
“I want to build on our progress on waiting lists and for us all to be able to focus our efforts on offering patients the highest quality care. The government is therefore carefully considering next steps.”
Both the BMA and the HCSA’s strike mandates for consultants run until June 2024.
Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary, said: “Last week, Rishi Sunak was bragging that NHS doctors had accepted his pay offer. This vote shows he was trying to pull the wool over the public’s eyes.
“The NHS is in the second year of strikes. They have cost patients more than 1 million cancelled operations and appointments, and cost taxpayers £2bn. It is long past time Rishi Sunak took personal responsibility and took charge of negotiations himself.”
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “This is a very narrow outcome and health leaders will hope that it will be used as a basis for reopening negotiations with consultants to address their concerns rather than as a stepping stone to call for more damaging industrial action.”
Junior doctors’ re-ballot
Earlier this week, the BMA announced that it would once again ballot its junior doctor members, with the vote closing on 20 March. Their current strike mandate expires on 29 February, but if they vote in favour of strike action, further strikes would be possible until September.
Junior doctors in England have walked out nine times in the past year, more than 30 days in total. Consultants have gone on strike three times, eight days in total.
For the first time, junior doctors are also being asked if they would be in favour of industrial action short of strike (ASOS), a tactic widely predicted to bring disruption to employers who could impose minimum service levels for full walkouts.
The first walkouts to test the government’s Strikes (Minimum Sercie Levels) Act, scheduled for 30 January to 5 February across 16 train operating companies by train drivers in the Aslef union, have not seen any employers – even government-owned ones – impose MSLs.
When LNER “showed signs” of doing so, Aslef announced a further five-day strike. The additional strike was only cancelled when LNER informed Aslef it would not impose MSLs.
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