Doctors are being offered four times their salary to break NHS strikes

15 August 2023 , 20:56

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Junior doctors on strike this month (Image: PA)

Doctors are being offered more than four times their salary to break NHS strikes.

Bumper overtime rates worth thousands of pounds are being offered to doctors to tempt them to do extra shifts covering for colleagues taking part in industrial action for better pay. The pay rates being offered at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust mean that a first year ‘F1’ doctor on an hourly rate of £15.53 would be offered between £62 and £82 per hour for extra shifts covering during the strikes. On other days an F1 who takes a ‘normal’ locum shift gets £25 an hour.

If they ended up doing four eight-hour shifts over the course of the strike days an F1 could have received up to £2,624 extra while a consultant could have boosted their pay by up to £8,608. Meanwhile medics taking a stand in the bitter dispute following a decade of below-inflation pay deals have their pay docked for strike days.

The BMA says doctors' pay has fallen by around a third in real terms since 2008. It puts the cost of “full pay restoration” at £1.4billion. NHS Providers said last week that the four previous junior doctor strikes had already cost the NHS £1 billion.

BMA says doctors' pay has fallen by around a third in real terms since 2008 (Manchester Evening News)

In a statement, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “The Government could have prevented strike action with a credible offer and millions of pounds could have been spent on restoring pay for junior doctors instead. A credible offer from the Government could mean an end to further strikes and an end to patients having their treatment delayed any further.”

Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade

Junior doctors latest walkout in England took place for four days up to 7am yesterday(Tue) when the Government again insisted there would be no pay negotiations. More strikes are being planned by junior doctors and consultants. Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: "Strikes are costing the NHS dear, so it is baffling that the Conservatives still refuse to negotiate with NHS staff.

"Rishi Sunak has not held a single minute of talks with doctors or nurses since strikes began in December. Patients and the NHS cannot afford this inaction. If the Conservatives have given up on governing, they should stand aside." Dr John Puntis, co-chair of Keep Our NHS Public, said: "The strength of feeling among doctors over the justice of their demands for an agreement over restorative pay, together with the level of support from the public, means attempts to undermine the strike by financial inducements at hospital level are unlikely to work.

“Patients and the wider population will also be bitterly disappointed that Government has in effect washed its hands over the matter and retreated behind the mantra that 'talk on pay is now closed'. Rising waiting lists underline the urgent need to improve staff retention and ministers need to grasp this reality by entering into meaningful negotiation."

In July the Government announced that junior doctors will receive pay rises of 6%, along with an additional consolidated £1,250 increase, which is equivalent to an average 8.8% rise. More senior hospital consultants will receive 6%. Health minister Will Quince said: "The Prime Minister has been really clear that the discussion on pay is now closed.

"My door remains open to discuss other issues around working environments and conditions, but pay is closed and I think that's the right decision." University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust was approached for comment.

Martin Bagot