Senior Dr strike ballot: Rutland health boss says there's 'huge problems' in health care
Talks had been held with the Government to try to resolve the long-running row, but it remains deadlocked
Last updated 16th May 2023
A Rutland health boss says 'there's something wrong with the system', as senior doctors in England vote on whether to strike in the continuing dispute over pay in the health service.
Dr Grant Ingrams, chair of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Local Medical Committee, says "working conditions are much worse than they were 10 years ago and the pay has dropped".
Talks had been held with the Government to try to resolve the long-running row, but it remains deadlocked.
"I went to see a patient at home last week and his son was visiting from Australia who told me that half of the GPs in his practise come from the UK"
Dr Vishal Sharma, who chairs the BMA consultants committee, said: "We have seen our take-home pay decline by 35% since 2008/9 and this is even before the impact of this year's soaring inflation has been considered."
"As a result of this, consultants are now effectively working four months of the year for free.
"Even as late as this weekend, we remained hopeful that we would secure a pay offer that went some way toward making up for the decline we have seen.
"Unfortunately however, given that inflation remains in double digits, the final offer from Government represented yet another real-terms pay cut.
The ballot is open from Monday until June 27 and the BMA is urging members to vote 'yes'
"On the back of 15 years of our pay declining, we simply could not accept a deal that continued this downward trend and have been left with no option but to proceed today with the ballot for industrial action."
Dr Ingrams told Greatest Hits Radio that many healthcare professionals are moving to the other side of the world for better pay and working conditions.
"I went to see a patient at home last week and his son was visiting from Australia who told me that half of the GPs in his practise come from the UK."
"I think the fact you’ve got junior doctors on strike, consultants that are looking to go on strike, and general practitioners considering a ballot about strike action says that there’s something wrong with the system, wrong with the NHS at the moment and the way it’s been treated.
"Working conditions are much worse than they were 10 years ago and the pay has dropped down, because of that doctors are voting with their feet and leaving."
The ballot is open from Monday until June 27 and the BMA is urging members to vote yes.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We hugely value the work of NHS consultants and they received a 4.5% pay uplift last financial year, increasing average earnings to around ÂŁ128,000.
"They will also benefit from generous changes to pension taxation announced at Budget and are eligible to apply for additional financial awards worth up to ÂŁ40,000 a year as part of the NHS consultant contract.
"We urge the BMA to carefully consider the likely impact of any action on patients."