Doctors have been accused of planning a ‘politically motivated’ strike by scheduling it at the same time as the Conservative Party conference.
Junior medics and consultants are set to walk out together for the first time in a move described as a ‘nightmare scenario’ and a ‘step too far’ by health leaders.
Consultants had already announced plans to picket for 48 hours from September 19, and will be joined by their junior colleagues on September 20. Junior doctors will then continue their strike on September 21 and 22.
Both consultants and junior doctors will then strike together on October 2, 3 and 4, which coincides with the Tory conference in Manchester, where the British Medical Association (BMA) union will hold a rally.
Nickie Aiken, deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, said: ‘The latest announcement from the BMA makes it clear their strike plans are politically motivated and have nothing to do with patient care or helping to reduce waiting times.’ It comes as an Ipsos poll reveals that public support for striking junior doctors has fallen by 3 per cent since June to 53 per cent.
Both consultants and junior doctors will then strike together on October 2, 3 and 4, which coincides with the Tory conference in Manchester, where the British Medical Association (BMA) union will hold a rally. Pictured: BMA members walk throughout Downing Street during a five-day strike last month
Nickie Aiken, (pictured) deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, said: ‘The latest announcement from the BMA makes it clear their strike plans are politically motivated and have nothing to do with patient care or helping to reduce waiting times’
Just 38 per cent of the public back walkouts by consultants, who are almost as unpopular as picketing train drivers, who garner only 36 per cent. But 57 per cent of the 1,000 adults questioned said they felt the Government was doing a ‘bad job’ of negotiating with workers to prevent walkouts, up six points since June.
Dr Vishal Sharma, chairman of the BMA’s consultants committee, yesterday admitted doctors were targeting the conference ‘because it’s only the Government who can allow us to meet and end this dispute’.
He told the BBC’s Today programme: ‘It is the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health who are refusing. They will be at the Conservative Party conference, and that’s why we will be there too.’
Doctors will work on a ‘Christmas day cover’ basis for the joint industrial action, meaning emergency care will continue to be provided. But junior doctors will stage a full walkout on the days when striking alone, so they will refuse to deliver emergency and cancer care.
Junior doctors have staged 19 days of strike action since March this year and consultants have staged four days. The latest consultants strike – from August 24 to 26 – affected 47,000 appointments.
Industrial action in the NHS has been ongoing since last December, with the number of appointments and operations cancelled now exceeding 900,000. Waiting lists stand at 7.6million and the BMA has admitted using these patients as ‘leverage’ to secure a deal.
Junior doctors have staged 19 days of strike action since March this year and consultants have staged four days. The latest consultants strike – from August 24 to 26 – affected 47,000 appointments. Pictured: The BMA picket line at King’s College Hospital on August 24 this year
Gideon Skinner, from Ipsos UK, said: ‘Britain continues to face strike action as we enter the autumn and there is continuity in public attitudes towards them too.
‘The strikes by railway workers and consultant doctors divide opinion, with opposition tending to outweigh support, but there is more sympathy for other striking NHS workers such as junior doctors.’
In July, the Government said junior doctors would get pay rises of 6 per cent, and an additional consolidated £1,250 increase. Hospital consultants will also receive 6 per cent.
Responding to the escalation of action, Health Secretary Steve Barclay accused the medics’ of causing ‘callous and calculated disruption’ and said the pay award was ‘final’.