NHS England approach to doctors' strike ‘seriously risky', BMA warns
'We've had proven systems over the last decade that have made sure that where we have to take strike action, senior doctors cover urgency and critical care,' she said.
'This time round, NHS England are pushing for the continuation of non-urgent and scheduled care in a way that we think at best is confusing and will create on-the-day cancellations – and at worst could be risky and lead to harm in emergency departments and on wards, because senior doctors cannot physically be in two places at once.
'We think that a notional guidance from NHS England which is saying that basically all scheduled work should continue to go ahead has potential to be seriously risky for patients.'
Her comments come amid an escalating row between NHS bosses and the BMA over how hospitals should respond to the strike, which is due to begin at 7am on Friday.
During previous rounds of industrial action in 2023 and 2024, NHS England told trusts to cancel large volumes of non-urgent care so that consultants could step in to cover emergency services.
But under the leadership of new NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey, hospitals have now been instructed to cancel non-urgent work only in 'exceptional circumstances' – and only with prior approval.
The BMA argues this new approach risks spreading non-striking doctors too thinly, with Dr Runswick warning: 'Senior doctors are needed to be freed up in order to provide urgency and critical care.
'We think the vast majority of planned and unscheduled care should be shifted.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has ruled out any additional pay rise (Lucy North/PA)
'There are always, in every hospital, local medical managers, local clinical leaders, who will make decisions about what is safe to go ahead – but trying to maintain scheduled care during this strike is not safe in many cases.'
When asked why the union could not avoid strikes altogether, she said walkouts can be delivered safely if planned properly.
'Strikes by doctors do not have to be risky,' she said. 'Strikes by doctors have been run safely in 2016 and 2022, 2023, 2024.
'We are entirely capable of running strikes safely – they just have to be planned for with local medical leadership, and we've done that before. We can do it again.'
She said the BMA was still hopeful a resolution could be reached before the walkout begins and was 'keen to work with NHS England to ensure they are best planned for the safest care'.
Talks between the Government and the BMA have continued in recent days, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting ruling out any additional pay rise this year but indicating other aspects of the contract – such as student debt, exam fees and working conditions – may be up for negotiation.
Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, were awarded an average 5.4% pay increase this financial year, following a 22% rise over the previous two years.
However, the BMA says real-terms pay has still fallen by around 20% since 2008, and is pushing for full 'pay restoration'.
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The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
Streeting to resident doctors: ‘I deeply regret position we find ourselves in'
Wes Streeting has sent a personal letter to NHS resident doctors, saying 'I deeply regret the position we now find ourselves in' as they prepare to strike. The Health Secretary said while he cannot pledge a bigger pay rise, he is committed to progress to improve their working lives. He also said he does not now believe the British Medical Association's resident doctors committee (RDC) has 'engaged with me in good faith' over bids to avert the strike. Thousands of resident doctors are to walk out from 7am on Friday for five days. In the letter sent on Thursday afternoon, seen by the PA news agency, Mr Streeting said: 'I wanted to write to you personally about the situation we find ourselves in. 'This Government came into office, just over a year ago, with a great deal of sympathy for the arguments that resident doctors were making about pay, working conditions and career progression. 'I was determined to build a genuine partnership with the… RDC to make real improvements on all three fronts. 'We have made progress together. While some of my critics in Parliament and the media believe I was naive to agree such a generous pay deal to end the strikes last year, I stand by that choice.' Mr Streeting said he had agreed that pay deal 'because I believed it to be fair', adding resident doctors have now had an average 28.9% pay award under Labour. He added: 'Strike action should always be a last resort – not the action you take immediately following a 28.9% pay award from a Government that is committed to working with you to further improve your lives at work. 'While I've been honest with the BMA RDC that we cannot afford to go further on pay this year, I was prepared to negotiate on areas related to your conditions at work and career progression, including measures that would put money back in the pockets of resident doctors… 'Based on discussions with the BMA RDC leaders between July 8 and 19, I set out three substantive areas where I believed we could work together to make real improvements.' These included tackling the 'arduous' training pathway, and 'I made it clear that I was prepared to agree actions to reduce the costs you face as a result of training', Mr Streeting said. He said he had also been looking at the cost of equipment, food and drink, and 'was prepared to explore how many further training posts could be created – additional to the 1,000 already announced – as early as possible'. Mr Streeting said he had asked the BMA for strikes to be postponed for a 'few weeks so we could work together on a detailed package that could form an offer to you to end this dispute'. He wrote to the RDC on Monday evening setting out a way to avert strike action, which had been discussed with the RDC in draft form, he added. 'I had responded to their requests for where additional information was required,' he said. 'I no longer believe that they have engaged with me in good faith.' Mr Streeting continued: 'I deeply regret the position we now find ourselves in. The public, and I am sure many of you, do not understand the rush to strike action. 'I would like to thank all those that will be turning up to work and supporting their colleagues in providing care for patients despite the challenging circumstances. I urge you to join them. We can achieve more for both doctors and patients by working together.' Later, Mr Streeting said there is 'no getting around the fact that these strikes will hit the progress we are making in turning the NHS around'. He added: 'But I am determined to keep disruption to patients at a minimum and continue with the recovery we have begun delivering in the last 12 months after a decade-and-a-half of neglect. We will not be knocked off course.' Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, told PA health staff will be working 'flat out' to see as many patients as they can during the strike, after NHS England made clear it wants as much pre-planned care as possible to continue. He said: 'Striking doctors should think carefully if they are really doing the right thing for patients, for the NHS and for themselves. 'NHS trusts will do everything they can to postpone as few appointments as possible… 'The strike will throttle hard-won progress to cut waiting lists, but NHS trust leaders and staff will be working flat out to see that as many patients as possible get the care they need.' The public have been urged to keep coming forward for NHS care during the walkout. GP surgeries will open as usual and urgent care and A&E will continue to be available, alongside 111, NHS England said. Elsewhere, the Health Service Journal (HSJ) reported that NHS chief Sir Jim Mackey had told trust leaders to try to crack down on resident doctors' ability to work locum shifts during the strike and earn money that way. Leaders have also been encouraged to seek 'derogations', where resident doctors are required to work during the strikes, in more circumstances, the HSJ reported. Rory Deighton, acute and community care director at the NHS Confederation, said: 'These strikes were not inevitable – the Government entered negotiations with the BMA in good faith to discuss improving the working and training lives of resident doctors… 'The impact of these strikes and the distress they will cause patients rests with the BMA.' The BMA argues real-terms pay has fallen by around 20% since 2008, and is pushing for full 'pay restoration'. The union is taking out national newspaper adverts on Friday, saying it wants to 'lay bare the significant pay difference between a resident doctor and their non-medically qualified assistants'. It said the adverts 'make clear that while a newly-qualified doctor's assistant is taking home over £24 per hour, a newly-qualified doctor with years of medical school experience is on just £18.62 per hour'. The BMA said Mr Streeting and his officials have refused to continue talks across the strike days and the minister's letter to them 'amounted to nothing more than vague promises on non-pay issues'. RDC co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said in a statement: 'Pay erosion has now got to the point where a doctor's assistant can be paid up to 30% more than a resident doctor. That's going to strike most of the public that use the NHS as deeply unfair. 'Resident doctors are not worth less than they were 17 years ago, but unfortunately they've seen their pay erode by more than 21% in the last two decades. We're not working 21% less hard so why should our pay suffer? 'We're asking for an extra £4 per hour to restore our pay. It's a small price to pay for those who may hold your life in their hands.' The statement said Mr Streeting had every opportunity to prevent the strike, and added: 'We want these strikes to be the last we ever have to participate in. 'We are asking Mr Streeting to get back around the table with a serious proposal as soon as possible – this time with the intent to bring this to a just conclusion.'
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
WES STREETING: 'Tide is finally starting to turn on 8am scramble for GP appointment'
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Strike will impact 60,000 London appointments, NHS says
Approximately 60,000 appointments across London will be impacted by a five-day doctors' strike starting on Friday, the medical director for NHS London has said. The British Medical Association (BMA) strike follows a pay dispute with the government over resident doctors - the new name for junior London said cancer and heart surgeries were being prioritised, however care which was not life saving was being "put on the back burner", a move which was "causing distress" and "some harm as well".The BMA said resident doctors had not had a "credible" pay deal for 2025-26, but Health Secretary Wes Streeting argued the strike was "unreasonable" after substantial pay rises in recent years. 'Cumulative effect' Dr Chris Streather, medical director for NHS London, hospitals had "quite a lot of practice" with managing care during industrial action."We will do as much as we can," he said. "But some things will get cancelled inevitably."He added: "The more worrying thing this time around is the cumulative effect of repeated cancellations of planned care."Since 2022 when this all started, we've cancelled nearly 1.5m planned appointments, and every time this happens, we loose about another 60,000."Although we make emergency care safe, we can't really deal with that backlog in planned care." The five-day walkout, which will take place across England, comes after a period of greater demand at St George's, Epsom and St Helier 1 June and 14 July this year, approximately 800 more people attended the hospitals' emergency departments compared with the same period last year, the group of those were admitted to hospital with issues including respiratory problems, shortness of breath, chest pain and falls. Dr Jane Evans, consultant at St George's Hospital in Tooting, said the hospital would have to "try and achieve balance" by managing emergency care and planned appointments during the strike."It's a square peg, round hole situation. We try to do everything, but it's impossible." The BMA said wages were still around 20% lower in real terms than in 2008 and called for "pay restoration".Streeting has made clear there would be no extra pay this year. Dr Melissa Reddy, co-chair of the BMA resident doctors committee, said: "Our door is always open for Mr Streeting to come forth with an offer. "None of us want to go out on strike. I'm a paediatric doctor, I work with children and families and I'd much rather be at work, but we simply need Mr Streeting to act and present us with a credible offer." Dr Streather said the strike would have more of an impact in the capital, where approximately half of doctors were resident doctors. "I and other people are disappointed that resident doctors are striking," he said."The public finances are in a mess and we've got a backlog of patients to deal with, and there isn't money to increase their pay."This can't be about pay... but there's lots of other stuff we can do to improve their working lives and I think we need to take that seriously." The NHS urged people to use its 111 online service, visit a pharmacy for advice or contact their GP where possible. Anyone in need of emergency care should continue to use A&E departments. The strikes take place from 07:00 on Friday until 07:00 on Wednesday.
