All four types of doctors working in the NHS could be locked in a wrangle with the government in the run-up to the general election, the head of the British Medical Association has warned.
GPs and specialist doctors may join junior doctors and hospital consultants in England in going on strike, Prof Philip Banfield, the union’s chair of council, told the Guardian.
“What you could have is a situation where junior doctors, consultants, specialist and speciality doctors and GPs are all in dispute with the government in the run-up to a general election.
“That is what we are planning for,” he said.
Specialists and family doctors have their own grievances, which could lead them to join junior doctors and hospital consultants in staging stoppages, he added.
Specialists – who work in hospitals and are often very experienced doctors – are seeking a large pay rise to make up for the “gross injustice” of the real terms’ value of their pay having fallen by 25% since 2008. GPs are so angry that a “disastrous” new contract has been imposed on them that they are considering staging an indicative ballot to see how many would support strike action.
“It is possible to have all of the [four] branches of [medical] practice in dispute actually at the point at which there is a general election,” Banfield said.
Being at odds with the country’s doctors when voters are choosing which party to support would be politically dangerous for the Conservatives and could even stop them getting re-elected, Banfield added.
“I don’t believe that a government [that] has had the NHS as the main thing [issue in an election campaign] has ever got back into power.”
Feelings are running so high among all four types of doctors that the possibility of them striking at the same time, though not necessarily simultaneously, would represent the “endgame” of the struggle ministers are already engaged in with junior doctors and consultants, Banfield said.
Junior doctors plan to stage a five-day stoppage – the longest strike in NHS history – from 13 to 17 July and will refuse to work in any care setting. It will be the fourth strike they have held since March as part of their campaign for a 35% increase in their salaries.
Consultants will hold their first walkout on 20-21 July. In contrast with their junior colleagues they will continue to work in life-or-death settings, such as A&E, maternity care and intensive care. But tens of thousands of non-urgent operations and outpatient appointments will be rescheduled.
“Doctors are the angriest they’ve ever been and the most demoralised they’ve ever been,” added Banfield.
“Doctors are one of the biggest assets that this country has. And no doctor wants to strike. So to be in this situation is an absolute tragedy for the country.”
Strikes since last December by various NHS staff groups – including nurses and ambulance staff – have already forced the NHS in England to postpone 651,000 operations and appointments.
NHS bosses have urged the health secretary, Steve Barclay, and the two unions representing juniors and consultants to resolve the pay dispute, and are concerned strikes could continue into 2024. However, both disputes have hit an impasse despite recent talks between the sides.
The Department of Health and Social Care declined to respond directly to Banfield’s remarks.
But a spokesperson said: “Cutting waiting lists is one of the government’s top priorities and we are investing record sums in the NHS to improve services and ensure the NHS continues to be there for all of us for another 75 years.
“We hugely value the work of all NHS staff and it is disappointing BMA consultants and junior doctors are taking strike action. We remain ready to continue talking at any point if strikes are called off and they show willingness to move significantly from their unreasonable pay demands.”
Later this week the government will publish its long term NHS workforce plan. It is intended to banish the chronic staff shortages that have contributed significantly to the service becoming so overwhelmed in recent years.
