Union demands £6,000 per consultant to cover one weekend of doctors' strikes
NHS leaders accused the British Medical Association (BMA) of making 'outrageous' demands as the planned walkouts grow nearer.
Consultants are being told by the union to demand 'on call' rates that amount to £6,000 for Saturday and Sunday, even if they do not end up doing any work or even leaving their homes.
Senior doctors who work shifts can expect £3,700 for a 13-hour weekend night shift, and £3,250 for doing the same shift during the day.
It comes as new research shows two million appointments could be cancelled because of doctors' strikes this year.
Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, will walk out from 7am on Friday until 7am on July 30.
The BMA has set a 'rate card' which asks consultants to seek pay of at least £188 an hour on weekdays, rising to £313 on weekend nights.
Those who sign up to be 'non-resident on call' can expect rates of £125 per hour, for up to 48 hours, without doing any work. If they were called in to cover a shift, the rate would rise further.
Officials from the Government and BMA are attempting to resolve the dispute in talks which began on Thursday.
Wes Streeting has said there is no room for manoeuvre on pay, after doctors were offered 5.4 per cent. The BMA is pushing for an increase of 29 per cent.
He has promised improvements in working conditions for doctors, but the union has said it wants 'solutions that address the cost of living'.
The BMA has pushed for some student loans to be written off, which the Government is unwilling to do. Other daily costs include costs of exams, and a licence to practice.
Mr Streeting suggested doctors could exchange some of their generous pensions for better take-home pay, and has said he is keen to address bottlenecks in training, which could mean doctors earning higher salaries sooner in their careers.
Ahead of the talks, Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said it was 'outrageous' for one group of doctors to profit from the strikes.
He said patients would suffer because of the strikes, in both the short and long term.
Mr Elkeles said: 'It is especially worrying to see demands for excessive rates to provide this cover. These rates are simply unaffordable and would mean cuts to services.
'The withdrawal of labour by one staff group should not be seen as a financial opportunity for another. That would be outrageous in a situation where there can be no winners.'
A report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggested that changes to pensions could benefit young medics far more quickly than making changes to loans, which only have to be paid off when salaries reach high levels.
By the time a resident doctor is in their last year of specialist training, they have a basic salary of £73,992 a year. Earnings can surpass £100,000 a year for such doctors, depending on their rotas and speciality.
A report by the Policy Exchange think tank estimated that the five-day strike could lead to the cancellation of a quarter of a million appointments and operations.
The BMA has a mandate to strike until January 2026.
The research found that if walkouts continued with a similar frequency to previous strikes, it could result in two million appointments and operations axed, and make it impossible for Labour to meet its pledge to cut waiting times.
The report estimates that covering strikes could cost £367m.
If doctors go ahead, it will be the first national strike by a healthcare union under a Labour government since the winter of discontent in 1979.
Policy Exchange urged Labour to abandon plans which would make it easier for doctors to strike.
Under the Employment Rights Bill, pushed by Angela Rayner, unions will no longer have to meet a legal threshold of a 50 per cent turnout in a ballot to hold a strike.
The Deputy Prime Minister's reforms will also increase the length of a strike ballot mandate from six months to 12.
The BMA had only a 55 per cent turnout in its recent ballot of resident or junior doctors, and on current trends turnout would dip below 50 per cent if the union reballoted doctors next year.
Victoria Atkins, a former health secretary, said: 'This powerful new analysis from Policy Exchange demonstrates the scale of disruption that industrial action from the BMA may cause in the coming days and months.
'This is in nobody's interest, particularly patients, who will be the ones who bear the brunt of the disruption once more.'
'The Government risks further alienating the wider NHS workforce and public sector if they cave in – on pay, on student loans or other exceptional terms.
'Nurses and other health professionals, teachers, police officers and others will ask why they're being treated differently from resident doctors.
'As Labour changes the law to make it easier for unions to call strikes, this sort of action will only become more likely.'
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