A British doctors union has asked the conciliation service Acas to broker talks with the government amid the continuing junior doctors’ strike over a bitter pay dispute.
Junior doctors across England have entered the second day of their four-day strike, which is causing serious disruption to the National Health Service (NHS).
It has been estimated that some 350,000 appointments and operations have been rescheduled as a result of the walkout by members of the British Medical Association (BMA).
The BMA claims junior doctors in England have seen a 26 percent real-terms pay cut since 2008/09 because pay rises have been below inflation. It said the pay issue is making it harder to recruit and retain junior doctors.
The union has asked for a full pay restoration, but the government said it would be unaffordable as it would amount to a 35 percent pay rise.
Acas—or the Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service—an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Business and Trade, said it is ready to mediate between the BMA and the government.
Acas Chief Executive Susan Clews said on Wednesday: “We have a team of experts who are well prepared and ready to help.
“Acas has decades of experience in resolving disputes and we helped the various parties involved in the 2016 junior doctors’ dispute.
Precondition for Talks
Professor Philip Banfield, chairman of council at the BMA, told Times Radio, “I have been talking to Acas about the possibility of breaking down some of the preconditions that have been put on the juniors by this government to try and get this dispute resolved as quickly as possible.”Banfield said the union needs “someone to start brokering realistic talks” because the government has failed to honour the recommendation from the independent pay review body.
Downing Street on Tuesday insisted that there would be no talks with the BMA unless it abandons its starting position of a 35 percent rise and calls off the strikes.
A Number 10 spokesman said that the 35 percent demand is “completely out of step with pay settlements in other parts of the public sector” and would cost £2 billion.
But the BMA stressed that the union is not demanding a 35 percent pay rise as a precondition for talks.
Banfield said: “It is not a precondition of talks that we are demanding, or the junior doctors are demanding 35 percent. What they’re saying is the figures show that this is what the value has been lost in our wages across that period of time.”
Patient Safety
It comes as hospital bosses expressed concern about keeping patients safe as they struggle to secure cover for overnight junior doctor shifts during strikes.On Tuesday, NHS England’s National Medical Director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said, “Staff are working incredibly hard during this unprecedented period of industrial action, and we expect the situation to become more challenging each day this strike progresses.”
Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said: “Keeping patients as safe as possible, trusts’ number one priority, will be even harder than in previous strikes, so it’s all hands on deck. Trust leaders are worried about securing adequate cover for the night shifts ahead. This is going to be a very long, difficult week for the NHS.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told The Times of London: “Most A&E departments will cope but it will be very tight. If A&E departments are not coping they will end up closing parts of the services. They will try and stay open but provide reduced cover.”
Owing to the timing of the strike, a number of senior doctors are unable to provide cover as they did in the previous three-day strike.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “I deeply regret these strikes and in particular the timing, which been timed deliberately coming straight after Easter, the fact that the BMA junior doctors have asked their members not to tell NHS managers whether they intended to go on strike or not—making contingency planning more difficult—and also their refusal to agree on any national exemptions.
“Other health unions like the Royal College of Nursing agreed national exemptions, particularly, for example, for cancer patients so that those patients weren’t impacted.
“The junior doctors committee has refused any national exemptions and obviously that puts patients at greater risk, but we’re working very hard to mitigate those impacts.”
