Consultants demand 11 PER CENT pay rise and declare sufferers are ‘protected’ as they stage 48-hour walkout – regardless of well being chief warning sick Brits face ‘highest stage of danger’ throughout strikes

Senior NHS docs have demanded an 11 per cent pay rise as they take to picket strains for the third time this 12 months.

Junior docs will then stage a joint walkout with the senior medics tomorrow and proceed their very own motion till 7am on Saturday.

Whereas sick Brits have been instructed to make use of emergency care as regular, well being chiefs have warned sufferers face ‘the best stage of danger in residing reminiscence’.

However Dr Vishal Sharma, chair of the British Medical Affiliation’s (BMA) consultants’ committee, which is coordinating the motion, this morning claimed a ‘save stage of service’ can be supplied.

Consultants walked out of hospitals at 7am this morning as a part of a 48-hour strike and are offering a ‘ Christmas Day’ stage of service – which means routine appointments and operations set to be considerably disrupted. Pictured, guide members of the BMA on the picket line outdoors College School London hospital in August

The BMA additionally stated it had written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Well being Secretary Steve Barclay outlining the ‘key asks’ wanted to finish the pay dispute.

Within the letter despatched to the Prime Minister yesterday, Dr Sharma stated the BMA has at all times been clear that ‘strikes could possibly be prevented if the Authorities was to current us with a reputable provide that we may put to our members.’

Talking on BBC Radio 4’s Right this moment programme this morning, he additionally stated reasonably than laws on minimal service ranges, the Authorities must be ‘stopping strikes within the first place’.

He added: ‘This has occurred as a result of the NHS employees throughout throughout the entire sector are actually demoralised, they’re actually burnt out and so they’ve been compelled into taking strike motion.’

He stated consultants wished an above-inflation pay award for this 12 months, which in April was operating about 11 per cent.

‘That is a really related quantity to what was provided to docs in Scotland and it exhibits it is completely doable to really try this, if there’s the fitting political will,’ he added.

Junior docs have already staged 19 days of strike motion since March, with consultants taking to the picket strains on 4 separate days. 

Final week NHS bosses blamed medic strikes for heaping additional strain onto already struggling hospitals — with 400,000 appointments rescheduled this summer time attributable to walkouts. 

Some 885,154 appointments have been postponed since NHS industrial motion — which has concerned employees together with docs, nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics — kicked-off in December.

If all neighborhood and psychological well being figures are included, the full rises to greater than 940,000 — although this is not going to replicate the general variety of precise cancellations, attributable to some duplication of information.

NHS leaders additionally stated the actual affect of strikes is masked by the info, as many hospitals have stopped reserving in surgical procedures and different appointments on introduced strike days. 

Recent NHS information final week additionally confirmed round 7.68million patients in England — or one in seven folks — had been within the queue in July for procedures such hip and knee replacements. 

The toll marks the best figures logged since NHS data started in August 2007.

For comparability, round 4.4million had been caught within the system when the pandemic reached the UK. 

However this morning Dr Sharma stated the rising NHS ready lists ‘haven’t been attributable to the strikes’ and ‘had been going up effectively earlier than the pandemic’.

He stated this had led to ‘large strain on the entire NHS workforce’, including that ‘the guide workforce is completely burnt out’ and struggling to recruit.

The NHS Confederation nonetheless, which represents all NHS organisations, stated rising numbers of sufferers, together with most cancers sufferers, are seeing their appointments rescheduled greater than as soon as attributable to strikes.

Matthew Taylor, chief government of the organisation, stated: ‘That is more likely to be the most important walkout the NHS has ever seen, will trigger critical disruption, and put sufferers on the highest stage of danger in residing reminiscence.

‘Leaders are involved that this harmful scenario is being underestimated by the Authorities, telling us that this feels a lot totally different and extra advanced than earlier strikes, with most reporting larger difficulties in rota planning and having to cancel large numbers of elective operations and appointments upfront.

England’s backlog, for procedures like hip and knee replacements, now stands at 7.6million, official figures revealed final week. It means roughly one in seven folks throughout the nation are presently caught within the system awaiting care. Greater than 380,000 sufferers have gone a 12 months with out being handled, typically in agony

‘That is a lot worse than earlier than as we’re now seeing sufferers who’ve already had an operation cancelled attributable to industrial motion be hit once more with a cancellation to their rescheduled appointment.

‘Leaders have additionally instructed us that this time spherical a better variety of operations and appointments for most cancers sufferers are being cancelled, which means that a few of the very sickest sufferers could also be struggling essentially the most.’

The walkouts additionally come regardless of consultants and junior docs being given a six per cent pay rise beneath No. 10’s pay provide.

On the time, Rishi Sunak stated the deal, introduced in July for 2023/24, was the Authorities’s ‘remaining provide’. 

Well being Secretary Steve Barclay has additionally stated there might be ‘no extra negotiations on pay’. 

Nurses, paramedics and different NHS employees obtained a 5 per cent rise and ‘NHS backlog bonus’.

The BMA nonetheless instantly rejected the rise, vowing to crack on with strike motion. 

It comes because the Authorities this week outlined plans to increase strike legal guidelines to make sure extra healthcare employees, together with docs and nurses, in hospitals present a minimal stage of canopy.

The rules, which may come into power subsequent 12 months, would imply docs and nurses must present a sure stage of canopy after being issued with a ‘work discover’ by employers on what is required to take care of ‘crucial and protected ranges of service’.

In July, the brand new strike legislation was granted Royal Assent, permitting ministers to impose minimal ranges of service throughout industrial motion by ambulance employees, firefighters, railway employees and people in different sectors deemed important. 

Steve Barclay instructed Sky Information this morning: ‘What we’re saying immediately is how we shield time-critical hospital companies, so issues like chemotherapy, issues like dialysis, as a result of we recognise the fitting to strike is essential, however we have got to stability that with additionally the fitting of sufferers to key therapies.’

He claimed France and Italy already had such measures in place.

However Saffron Cordery, deputy chief government of NHS Suppliers, stated the Authorities’s proposed minimal service ranges danger ‘worsening industrial relations at a time after we want Authorities and unions to get across the desk and enter into talks to avert additional escalation and disruption to affected person care.’

She instructed the Press Affiliation: ‘This laws, in addition to the session introduced, does not handle any of the problems underlying present strike motion, together with dissatisfaction with pay and dealing circumstances.’

This week’s strike motion ‘cannot turn out to be the established order’, she added. ‘We’re in uncharted territory. It is all fingers on deck in trusts throughout the nation.’