Latest news with #BMA
The Independent
8 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Fresh hospital strike threat in latest pay row
The British Medical Association (BMA) has warned the government about the potential for multiple groups of doctors to strike together later this year. The BMA announced an indicative ballot for hospital consultants and specialist, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors in England over a 4 per cent pay uplift. Doctors view the 4 per cent pay rise as an insult, stating it does not address historical pay freezes and is below inflation. Junior doctors are already being balloted for strike action, and senior doctors may now join them on picket lines. The BMA has called for negotiations with Health Secretary Wes Streeting, but states it has not received a repl y, leading to the ballot.
The Independent
9 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Hospital consultants may strike with junior doctors in pay row escalation
Hospital consultants may now join junior doctors in taking strike action in an escalation of the row over pay with the government. The British Medical Association (BMA) warned the government it faces ' having several groups of doctors on picket lines together later this year'as the union announced an indicative ballot of senior doctors over their recent pay offer. Consultants and specialist, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors in England will be asked whether they are willing to take part in industrial action over the 4 per cent pay uplift many were given in May. The union said at the time that the pay rise does not go far enough in restoring historical pay freezes, with the committees representing these doctors writing to health secretary Wes Streeting calling for him to meet for negotiations. However, the BMA said it has not received a reply. The union has consequently announced the indicative ballot, which will open on 21 July and close on 1 September. Resident doctors in England, formally known as junior doctors, are already being balloted over the prospect of strike action, with senior doctors now potentially set to join them on the picket lines. BMA consultants committee co-chairs Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta, said in a statement: 'Last month's offer was an insult to senior doctors and undoes so much of the progress made last year. The 4 per cent was below April's RPI inflation, let alone anywhere close to making a dent in the huge pay cuts consultants have experienced over the last 17 years. 'Without restoring consultants' value we will continue to drive our most experienced clinical leaders and academics away – in many cases to better pay and conditions overseas – when patients and the public need them most. 'We've been clear to the government that we're ready to get around the table and to secure a better outcome for doctors, patients and the public, but with no response, we have no choice but to prepare for the possibility of further action.' They added: 'Our resident colleagues have already launched their ballot, to which we offer them our fully fledged support. We ask the government whether it can really risk having several groups of doctors on picket lines together later this year.' BMA SAS committee chairwoman Dr Ujjwala Mohite added: 'SAS doctors are the backbone and unsung heroes of the NHS, yet this year's pay 'award' once again completely disregards the value we offer to patients and the health service. 'Even with the uplift, SAS pay will be down by almost a quarter in real terms compared to 2008. We are certainly not working a quarter less than we were 16 years ago.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'Specialty and associate specialist (SAS) doctors and consultants have received an above-inflation pay rise of 4 per cent, following last year's 6 per cent pay award, meaning the starting salary for a consultant is over £20,000 more than in 2023. 'Through the hard work of consultants, SAS doctors and all NHS staff, we have cut waiting lists to their lowest level in two years, down by almost a quarter of a million since we took office. 'Through our plan for change we want to continue working with doctors to rebuild our NHS for the benefit of both staff and patients.'
The Guardian
13 hours ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Overseas-trained doctors ‘put off UK due to cost of living and low salaries'
Doctors are choosing not to come and work in the UK because they are put off by low salaries, the high cost of living and poor quality of life. Research by the General Medical Council (GMC) shows that doctors who shun the UK are opting to move instead to the United States, Australia and Canada to earn more and have a better life. Overall, 84% of doctors trained abroad surveyed by the GMC said that other countries were better than Britain at paying good salaries and only 5% felt the opposite was true. The UK was also seen as being very poor for the cost of living and quality of life, attracting scores of minus 44 and minus 43. Among doctors considering where to further their careers, the UK scored worse than competitor countries on 14 of the 15 issues the GMC asked them about. It also recorded negative ratings for being an advanced healthcare system (minus 26), doctors being treated with respect by patients and the public (minus 20), quality of patient care (minus 17) and having enough appropriately qualified staff (minus 17). The gloomy findings for the UK came as resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – in England were voting on whether to launch a renewed six-month campaign of strikes in pursuit of the 29% pay rise their union, the British Medical Association (BMA), claims they deserve. Consultant doctors will also take part in an indicative ballot to assess their willingness to stage walkouts over pay. Charlie Massey, the GMC's chief executive, said its findings were worrying and should spur the NHS to do more to welcome overseas-trained doctors and improve their working conditions, in order to avoid the shortages of medics which many hospitals and GP practices face. 'This research showed that issues of concern to doctors who are considering a move to the UK reflect much of what we hear from doctors who are working here now,' he said. 'It is concerning, as these factors impact on retention as well as recruitment. The UK is envied for the way it trains doctors, but there is room for improvement and we shouldn't assume that will always continue.' The NHS in England has recruited even larger numbers of doctors from elsewhere in recent years than usual. Last year 36% of all doctors there were non-UK nationals, up from 26.6% in 2016. The GMC, which regulates the medical profession in the UK, found that the UK scored highly among doctors from abroad because they find it easy to register to practise, navigate the immigration system and find a job compared with other places. Its findings are based on an online survey of 3,092 doctors in other countries. Of those, 2,556 came to the UK and joined the GMC's medical register and 536 opted to move elsewhere. The research, which probed what motivates doctors to choose which country to move to, found that some foreign doctors got disillusioned and quit the UK soon after moving there. 'Among doctors who have recently practised in the UK (since 2021) but have since left, many left sooner than they had intended to. Half of these doctors ended up practising in the UK for less than a year, when only 15% had this intention,' it said. 'Those who had left were disappointed with the UK in terms of colleagues and the friendliness of staff, adhering to different guidelines and standards, the bureaucracy and work culture/ethics.' Dr Latifa Patel, the BMA's workforce lead, said: 'The NHS is faced with a bizarre double-whammy of international medical graduates not wanting to work here due to low salaries, high cost of living, and poor quality of life, meanwhile UK trained doctors working in the NHS are feeling forced out the door to find roles in other countries where both their pay and quality of life are better.' Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has criticised the NHS for being too reliant on foreign doctors, nurses and midwives, and not hiring enough homegrown health professionals. He recently castigated as 'immoral' NHS recruitment of staff from World Health Organization-designated 'red list' countries, which are poor and have less developed health systems.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Now militant doctors demand the right to walkout on 'heat strike' as temperatures soar
Doctors are demanding the right to go on 'heat strike' as temperatures are set to soar to 33C over the next few days. Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) are calling on the union to demand that the NHS adopts a 'national maximum workplace temperature'. They said it should support staff to take 'heat strike action' if the temperature rises above this threshold, allowing all non-essential staff to walk out. The limit should be set using available evidence, it added. Some estimates suggest that staff concentration is affected from 24C, while the NHS says vulnerable patients could suffer at 26C. The proposals, which also call for funding to keep NHS buildings cool enough to work, have been put forward by the BMA's London regional council to be voted on at its annual meeting next week. It said there is 'evidence linking workplace heat to stress, poor health outcomes, reduced performance and decreased patient safety' and that the ' escalating climate and health emergency is increasing the frequency and severity of heatwaves in the UK, such that extreme working temperatures are very likely to become ever more common'. The BMA today launched an indicative ballot of consultants, asking if they would be prepared to strike over pay. The senior doctors, who earn an average of £145,000 a year, were awarded a pay rise of 4 per cent in May but had been seeking over three-times this amount. A legally-binding ballot of resident doctors - previously known as junior doctors - is already underway. They say this year's rise of 5.4 per cent should be closer to 30 per cent. Yellow heat health alerts have been issued across England , with the UK Health Security Agency warning that the weather could have an impact on people's health and put pressure on services. Wards or clinical areas exceeded 26C on more than 6,800 occasions in 2022/23, according to NHS data. The NHS warns temperatures this high put vulnerable patients at risk because they 'are physiologically unable to cool themselves efficiently'. This was up by almost a quarter on the year before, and more than double the 2,980 incidents that occurred in 2016/17. Overheating in hospitals has previously caused issues with refrigerators used to store medicines and led to IT systems containing patient data to crash. Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health organisations, said: 'We know that during heatwaves issues with inadequate ventilation can cause challenges with dealing with extreme heat. 'This could have a detrimental impact on staff and patient wellbeing and hinder productivity unless organisations have the funding and capacity to fix faulty ventilation systems.' A report produced by Round Our Way, a campaign group, stated: 'In addition to patient distress, high temperatures also pose an occupational health risk to NHS staff.' It cited evidence that the 'cognitive performance' of doctors and nurses decreased at high, or even mild temperatures of 24C, lowering their productivity. Experts have also found that as many as nine in 10 hospital wards are at risk of overheating because of the design of buildings. With a third of the NHS estate built before 1965 – more than 50 years before the recording of overheating incidents began – the buildings are primarily designed to keep heat in.
The Independent
a day ago
- Health
- The Independent
Senior doctors asked about prospect of industrial action amid row over pay
Senior doctors in England are taking part in an indicative ballot in an escalation of a row over pay with the Government. Many doctors were given a 4% pay uplift in May. But the British Medical Association (BMA) said at the time that the pay rise does not go far enough in restoring historical pay freezes. The union announced that consultants and specialist, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors in England will take part in an indicative ballot over the recent pay offer. The BMA said that after the offer the committees representing these doctors wrote to the Health Secretary Wes Streeting calling for him to meet for negotiations. But the union said it had not received a reply. The indicative ballot, which will ask whether they are willing to take part in industrial action, will open on July 21 and close on September 1. Resident doctors in England, formally known as junior doctors, are already being balloted over the prospect of strike action. BMA consultants committee co-chairs Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta, said in a statement: 'Last month's offer was an insult to senior doctors and undoes so much of the progress made last year. 'The 4% was below April's RPI inflation, let alone anywhere close to making a dent in the huge pay cuts consultants have experienced over the last 17 years. 'Without restoring consultants' value we will continue to drive our most experienced clinical leaders and academics away – in many cases to better pay and conditions overseas – when patients and the public need them most. 'We've been clear to the Government that we're ready to get around the table and to secure a better outcome for doctors, patients and the public, but with no response, we have no choice but to prepare for the possibility of further action.' They added: 'Our resident colleagues have already launched their ballot, to which we offer them our fully fledged support. We ask the Government whether it can really risk having several groups of doctors on picket lines together later this year.' BMA SAS committee chairwoman Dr Ujjwala Mohite added: 'SAS doctors are the backbone and unsung heroes of the NHS, yet this year's pay 'award' once again completely disregards the value we offer to patients and the health service. 'Even with the uplift, SAS pay will be down by almost a quarter in real terms compared to 2008. We are certainly not working a quarter less than we were 16 years ago.' The Department of Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.
