Doctors' strikes have been 'deliberately timed to cause havoc', says NHS chief
Resident doctor strikes have been ‘deliberately timed to cause havoc’, the head of the NHS has said, as medics continue their walkout today.Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, warned many hospitals have found it ‘challenging’ to fill rotas following the Easter weekend.Resident doctors - previously known as junior doctors - began a six day strike at 7am yesterday in pursuit of a 26 per cent pay rise on top of the 28.9 per cent they have received over the past three years.They have now taken to picket lines on 61 days across 15 rounds of strikes, with each day costing the NHS £50million in lost activity and overtime payments to covering consultants.Health officials feared this strike would be particularly disruptive because the action is taking place during the Easter holidays, when many NHS staff have booked time off with their families.In a letter sent to healthcare leaders last night, Sir Jim said: ‘I know today has been tough for staff picking up the strain across the country – and how disruptive and challenging it’s been for many hospitals to manage it and fill their rotas following the Easter weekend.‘We cannot forget this action has been deliberately timed to cause havoc.‘There’s a long way to go, but it looks like we’re in as good a place as we could hope on day one. Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, warned many hospitals have found it ‘challenging’ to fill rotas following the Easter weekend. The strikes will last six days - one of the longest the NHS has faced - and is over disputes over pay and job opportunities.‘I am so grateful to everyone for all you’ve done ahead of today, during today and what you will be doing over the next five plus days to contend with these pressures, maintain services and help keep the show on the road for our patients.’It comes after Mr Streeting accused the British Medical Association of trying to ‘fleece’ the public with pay demands that could cost taxpayers £30billion a year.He admitted the industrial action will leave some patients ‘waiting in pain or anxiety longer than is necessary’ as appointments are cancelled.The BMA says it would cost taxpayers £3billion to deliver the pay rise they are asking for - the same the NHS has already spent on dealing with their strike.But Mr Streeting warned it would cost ten-times more every year if he caved into their ‘unreasonable’ demands as every other NHS worker would expect the same.He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: ‘Let's then assume that other NHS staff would understandably demand the same, then that cost would be more like £30billion pounds a year.‘That is more than the entire cost of the Ministry of Justice's entire budget for running the criminal justice system.’ The £3billion spent to date could have built a ‘few’ hospitals or delivered millions of appointments, slashing NHS waiting lists faster, the Labour leadership hopeful added. The BMA is 'intransigent' and unwilling to move on an 'increasingly absurd set of positions', Health Secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) said, after pointing out the BMA had been the biggest winner of government pay increases 'by a country mile'. The British Medical Association (BMA) rejected the government's deal for a 4.9 per cent average pay increase which Health Secretary Wes Streeting said would have made them 35.2 per cent better off than four years ago.Kemi Badenoch has called on ministers to ban doctors from striking as she accused them of ‘betraying patients’ with another round of walkouts.The Conservative leader, whose father was a GP, says the medics’ jobs are so critical she would subject them to the same restrictions as police and the military.Writing in today’s Daily Mail, she said Labour had caved in too easily with previous pay demands and given doctors more money ‘with no strings attached’.She added: ‘The Conservatives have had enough. If the BMA refuses to act reasonably, the government must step in to ensure the safety of patients.‘That’s why I will ban resident doctors and consultants from going on strike – as we already do for the Police and Armed Forces.‘We will reintroduce Minimum Service Levels across the NHS, so that patients know the NHS will always be there when they need it.’Mr Streeting has admitted or the first time that banning doctors from striking is an ‘option’ the government could look at to end the impasse, having previously claimed such a move was not his ‘instinct’.Asked whether it was an option to end the current deadlock, Mr Streeting told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘Well, it is - and you're right to say that there are other workers in the public sector, like the police, that are not allowed to go on strike. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said doctors' jobs are so critical she would subject them to the same restrictions as police and the military.‘The right to strike is an important right, and we have not - so far - considered taking that right off the table for doctors.’However, when pushed, Mr Streeting said the Government was ‘not currently considering it’.The BMA’s resident doctors committee last month rejected a deal that would have taken medics pay rises over the past three years to 35 per cent and created thousands of new speciality training places that would have allowed members to further their careers.If they had accepted, some would have been earning more than £100,000 a year, while those in their first year out of medical school would have started on an average of £52,000 a year.Mr Streeting said it was hypocritical of the BMA to be striking in the face of such an offer while giving their own staff a rise of 2.75 per cent ‘on affordability grounds’.Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the BMA resident doctors committee, said the union would not strike if it were illegal.He added: ‘These strikes were entirely avoidable.‘If we keep treating doctors as an inconvenience rather than an asset, we will end up with an NHS that simply doesn’t have enough residents or consultant doctors to give patients the surgery and procedures they need. Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the BMA resident doctors committee, said the union would not strike if it were illegal.‘We’re willing to end these strikes, Mr Streeting needs to be too.’New YouGov polling, conducted yesterday, found a growing number of British adults are opposed to resident doctors going on strike with the number climbing from 33 per cent in April 2023 and 53 per cent in March this year to 55 per cent now.Some 37 per cent said they currently support the action, according to the survey of 4,385 adults in Great Britain.Mr Streeting said: ‘People and patients are understandably fed up.’
