I was on the Jeremy Vine TV show recently with the BMA’s co-chair Ross Nieuwoudt and got to quiz him over the (fatuous) reasons for junior doctors’ strikes Having talked to Nieuwoudt, my conclusion was that never in a million years would I want this obsessive, deeply unimpressive, militant activist treating any member of my family. Nieuwoudt had refused to take calls from viewers (on the advice of his PR team, would you believe). And I suspect that was because he didn’t have the guts to be quizzed by people whose loved ones may have suffered or even died because of the BMA’s strikes.
Nieuwoudt is also the doctor who said he was “excited” at the prospect of strikes (Yay – people might die. Seriously?) and claimed the main reason doctors were fleeing to Australia – apart from the fact it’s a private health service which can obviously pay more than the NHS – was because it was nice and sunny there. Oh well, that’s alright then. To hell with saving lives. To hell with the NHS which these militants claim to love yet are systematically destroying. And sod the terrified patients they’re abandoning. As long as it’s sunny…
I took Nieuwoudt to task over the BMA’s spurious claim junior docs earn less per hour than a barista. His response: “Oh we don’t use that argument now.” Of course, you don’t you plonker, because it’s facile and has been disproven.
What’s also been disproven is the union’s claim that it’s striking to reinstate the 23% loss in the value of doctors’ salaries since 2008. The Institute for Fiscal Studies rubbishes that and says the BMA based its “loss” calculations on flawed figures which should have used the Consumer Price Index, NOT the Retail Price Index – which economists say isn’t a reliable measure of inflation.
And whatever nonsense they trot out about what they’re earning, don’t believe it. Because whatever they earn, they can enjoy 30% to 50% more with incredibly generous overtime rates. They also get huge government pensions, the likes of which you and I can only dream about.
Nieuwoudt also had the cheek to say: “We don’t take striking lightly.” Yes, you do matey, you’ve done it 12 times in the last two years and it’s cost the NHS multi millions – money that could have been spent on sick people.
The last lot of strikes also caused the cancellation of 507,000 appointments. And of course, five people died. And then there’s BMA boss Dr Tom Dolphin who’s even more dangerous than Nieuwoudt.
This bloke, a Corbynista activist, once compared the fear women felt about rape to the fear some felt over Brexit AND he compared an alleged murderer to Jesus. And HE could be looking after someone you love!
But these are the nitwits this Government is having to deal with – activists and militants who don’t seem to give a stuff about sick people, who don’t seem to care about their terror at being abandoned and look as though they’re prepared to let them die unless the Government, yet again, stuffs their greedy mouths with gold (quote from Nye Bevan not me).
And make no mistake, the BMA knows people could die. It’s actually said patients will not be safe unless the NHS cancels all routine appointments (not routine, if you’re in agony) during the strikes and gets senior docs, who’d have been covering those appointments, to do emergency cover for the strikers instead.
NHS boss Sir Jim Mackey and Wes Streeting have clearly decided, stuff that, let the junior docs take responsibility if people die. Mackey has also said during these strikes there’ll be a crackdown on junior doctors doing locum shifts for other trusts.
The BMA, by the way, is telling hospital consultants they should charge at least £313 an hour to cover junior colleagues’ night shifts, which means a single consultant could be paid £6,000 for working this weekend.
Wes Streeting insists he won’t cave into the BMA’s greedy demands. Good! Because this strike isn’t about patient care or doctors being overworked.
It’s about the greed of an uncaring rabble of medics who got a 22% pay rise last year and a 5.4% rise this year – the highest in the whole public sector. But still the BMA says it’s “derisory” and wants more.
Any doctor with a scrap of conscience would rip up their BMA card and kick out these union dinosaurs because they’re destroying the reputations of all the decent doctors out there – of whom thank God there are still many.
