A fresh round of doctors’ strikes will have “dire consequences for older patients” as temperatures soar, campaigners have warned. But the Government is “sleepwalking” into industrial action that will cost lives, a group representing the elderly said.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is to meet representatives from the British Medical Association (BMA) this week in an effort to prevent walkouts, but is refusing to give in to demands for further massive pay rises after resident doctors enjoyed a 22% increase over two years. They have been offered an additional 5.4% increase this year, while the current inflation rate is 3.4%.
Dennis Reed, director of campaigners Silver Voices, said: “In the midst of a heatwave, we are sleepwalking towards another serious bout of industrial action in the health service, with dire consequences for older patients. Creative thinking is required from all sides to these disputes to save lives and stop the waiting lists from zooming again.
“We have a militant union, a weak and self-serving NHS management and a Government lacking political direction and vision, a noxious mix which has led to simmering discontent across the NHS.”
The group’s members are desperately worried, he said, and a planned five-day walkout will lead to tens of thousands of elective operations being cancelled at short notice.
Junior doctors caused at least 201,000 appointments to be cancelled in April 2023 when they staged a five-day walkout.
Mr Reed said: “Lives will inevitably be lost as an indirect result of the strike action, because of the added pressures on the emergency services. And the millions of older patients waiting for operations on hips, backs, knees and the like will fear that they will have to put up with excruciating pain for many more months.”
Silver Voices is calling for an independent review to examine whether pay for resident doctors has kept up with other workers.
Mr Reed said: “Something must be done to prevent serious harm to patients and we urge the BMA to suspend the strike action to allow such a review to take place.”
The BMA has announced resident doctors – formerly junior doctors – in England would walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on July 25.
Members voted 90% in favour of more walkouts but only 55% of eligible doctors took part in the vote.
Just one in five members of the British public support the resident doctors striking, according to polling by the Good Growth Foundation.
Mr Streeting is due to meet representatives this week. He is understood to be sympathetic to improving working conditions for doctors, but will not budge on salaries.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social care said: “The BMA have accepted the Health Secretary’s offer to meet and we expect that to happen this week.”
Ed Argar, Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, said: “Resident doctors will be coming off the front line and going on the picket line and this kind of chaos puts patients and lives at risk. These strikes are irresponsible, unnecessary and wrong.
“We warned Labour that giving in to union demands last year with no strings attached would only see them coming back for more – and that’s exactly what’s happened.
“The Government’s weakness has fuelled this crisis. They risk seeing a summer of discontent turn into a summer of chaos and strikes, with patients paying the price.”
BMA resident doctors committee co-chairpersons Dr Ross Nieuwoudt and Dr Melissa Ryan said: “To be able to meet the needs of all our patients, year-round, we need a health service that is properly staffed and properly resourced. But without reversing the pay cuts that doctors have had over the last 17 years, they will continue to leave for better pay and conditions outside of the NHS or abroad.
“Doctors’ pay has fallen by a much greater amount in real terms than the rest of the population. While doctors’ pay is still more than a fifth down on 2008-09, analysis of ONS figures show that wages across the whole economy are much closer to returning to pre-2009 levels.
“We don’t want these strikes to have to go ahead, which is why we’re meeting with the Health Secretary this week.
“Resident doctor strikes are safe because rota gaps are covered by senior consultant and SAS colleagues – the most highly trained of the medical workforce. And data has consistently shown that there is no link between resident doctor strikes and increased deaths.
“If strikes do go ahead, hospitals have adequate time to prepare and there are established processes in place to ensure that doctors are able to return to work in the event of serious safety concerns.”
Some 90% of voting resident doctors backed the strike action, with the BMA reporting a turnout of 55%.
The union has said that resident doctors need a pay uplift of 29.2% to reverse “pay erosion” since 2008-09.
TV doctor and IVF pioneer Professor Robert Winston resigned from the BMA following the strike announcement. He said: “I’ve paid my membership for a long time. I feel very strongly that this isn’t the time to be striking.”
He urged the union to reconsider, saying it is “important that doctors consider their own responsibility much more seriously”, and stressed that the walkout could cause “long-term damage” to people’s faith in doctors.