Disruption at Royal Stoke and Leighton Hospital as top doctors strike
Consultants in England are striking for 48 hours
The NHS will face major disruption today as top doctors go on strike at the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust and the Mid Cheshire Hospitals Foundation Trust.
Consultant doctors and hospital-based dentists in England will be on strike for 48 hours from 7am this morning until 7am on Saturday.
"The consultants strike, through agreement with the BMA, we will continue to provide cover, but that will be more like a Christmas Day cover." said Dr Matthew Lewis, Medical Director at UHNM Trust which runs the Royal Stoke.
"Again this is a difficult period for us, but we are open for emergencies."
Unlike strikes by junior doctors, health leaders have said no other clinicians can provide cover for consultants, which means no-one can take on a consultant's work and any planned care by junior doctors that requires even remote consultant supervision will need to be rescheduled.
Emergency care will still be in place, but most routine and pre-planned services will be cancelled
"The disruption that is caused by this is really really significant." said Professor Rowan Pritchard-Jones, Cheshire's NHS Medical Director.
"I am still a committed cancer surgeon. We come in every day to provide the care people need and none of us that committed our professional lives to this want to see patients being affected. So, we very much see and understand how frustrating it must be for our patients."
It follows the longest period of industrial action in the history of the NHS by junior doctors in England, which lasted five days from last Thursday to Tuesday morning.
Why are consultants striking?
Consultants in England who are members of the British Medical Association (BMA) have voted to go on strike for 48 hours as a result of the row over pay.
They are calling for a “credible pay offer”, citing years of below-inflation rises.
The BMA has said take-home pay for consultants has fallen by 35% since 2008.
What have they been given?
Last week the Government announced pay increases for millions of public sector workers including doctors.
Junior doctors will receive a 6% rise along with an additional consolidated £1,250 increase, officials said, while hospital consultants will receive a 6% increase.
The BMA says this is “derisory” and argues that consultants have seen real-terms take-home pay fall by more than a third over the last 14 years.
How much does a consultant actually earn?
Consultants on a 2003 contract earn a starting salary of £88,364 in basic pay, rising to £119,133 after around 19 years, according to the BMA.
The Department of Health and Social Care said that on average, consultants have additional earnings worth around 31% of basic pay, covering “additional programmed activities”, clinical excellence awards and on-call payments, which take total average NHS earnings for 2022/23 to around £127,000.
The department said that for 2023/24 this will rise to an average of around £134,000.
When will the strike take place?
Consultants in England will walk out at 7am today (20th July)and stay on strike until 7am on July 22nd.
They will still provide “Christmas Day cover”, which means most routine and pre-planned services will be cancelled but full emergency cover will remain.
Medics are being invited to join picket lines across the country or attend a rally in London.
Will I still have my hospital appointment?
Patients have been told to attend appointments as normal unless they have been contacted and told the sessions have been postponed.
People have been told to still use 999 in life-threatening emergencies and NHS 111 online for other health concerns. GP services and pharmacies can be accessed in the normal way.
What is different about this strike?
In contrast to strikes by other NHS workers, no one can cover consultants because they are the top doctors in a hospital.
As well as their own work, consultants also supervise the work of their juniors.
NHS leaders say this means routine care will be “virtually at a standstill” during the strike.
It follows the longest walkout in NHS history after junior doctors finished a five-day strike on Tuesday.
Are any future strikes planned?
Yes. Before the first round of strike began the BMA Consultants Committee announced further walkouts will take place in August.
These are due to take place shortly before the August Bank Holiday, on August 24 and 25.
The BMA said its announcement was in response to the Government imposing “another real-terms pay cut” on doctors last week.
What’s going on to stop the strikes?
At the moment, nothing. The Government has said its pay deal for doctors was the “final offer” and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said there would be “no more talks on pay”.
Despite this, BMA leaders have written to the Health Secretary imploring him to meet them and discuss how to avert strikes.
Will all consultants strike?
Before a stoppage happens, members of a union are balloted to see whether they want to go on strike.
More than 24,000 consultants in England responded to the BMA’s ballot – a turnout of 71%.
Some 86% of these said they wanted to strike.
Consultants who are members of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA), who are not also members of the BMA, have been advised they should attend work on strike days.
The HCSA is planning a consultative ballot of NHS England consultants “shortly”.
Have there been any counter arguments from doctors?
One consultant spoke out against the action at the BMA’s annual meeting earlier this month.
Dr David Randall, a kidney care specialist, said consultants are wealthy enough to strike “indefinitely” and asking for full pay restoration was based on “faulty logic” which suggests “doctors’ incomes should be unaffected by anything that has happened to the nation since 2008, that others should feel the pain of recession, Brexit, pandemic and war, but not us”.
He told the meeting in Liverpool that consultants should push for a pay rise but one that “allows us to look our colleagues and our patients in the eye”.
History of the NHS
NHS is established
The National Health Service was formally established in 1948 at what is now Trafford General Hospital in Manchester. The service was started by Aneurin Bevan under the government of Clement Atlee. Its aim was to create a system of free healthcare to all. One of the first patients was Sylvia Diggory, aged 13, who was suffering from a liver condition.
Prescription charges introduced
Soon after its inception, charges for prescriptions and dental care were introduced. Each prescription would cost one shilling, while dental care would require a £1 payment. Charges would eventually be dropped and then reinstated in 1968.
NHS discoveries
Throughout the 1950s, thanks to the pioneering technology the NHS was using, a number of medical advancements were made. Polio vaccinations were rolled out in the UK, the structure of DNA was found and the link between smoking and cancer was proven.
Treating new diseases
As time went on and the NHS grew, so did its capacity to look after those who were unable to be treated before. The Mental Health Act in 1983 was the first time the concept of consent was raised in treating those with mental health issues. Nurses also treated people suffering from AIDS in the late 1980s and, together with the government, helped to reduce the stigma of the disease, which primarily affected gay men.
Opening to the public
In order to cope with the increasing demand for the NHS, the structure of the service changed. In 1991, NHS Trusts were established in the first of a wave of reorganisation for the service. People would later be able to donate organs more easily with the introduction of the NHS Organ Donor Register.
Stretched resources
In the 21st century, the NHS came under pressure as a result of stretched resources. With the rising cost of medicines, the government voted to bring in longer working hours and minimal increases in pay for NHS staff in 2015. This resulted in a mass picket of junior doctors around the country for better working conditions. It was the first general strike in the NHS' history and the first instance of industrial action in 40 years. There have been further strikes in 2023
NHS during coronavirus
In 2020, a new disease named COVID-19 began to spread around the world, eventually reaching the UK at the end of January. The resulting pandemic led to NHS workers being on the frontline of the disease. Support for the NHS grew massively and during lockdowns, so-called "Claps for Carers" would take place every Thursday to thank the NHS and its staff for protecting the public during the pandemic.