19.07.12
BMA cancels immediate strike plans
Doctors have suspended plans to strike over pension reforms, the BMA has announced, and stated that staff will seek change through negotiation ahead of any further industrial action.
Last month doctors took action against plans to raise the retirement age and increase contributions by only providing urgent care. It was the first time doctors had taken industrial action in almost 40 years.
A fifth of GP practices were affected and 2,703 operations were postponed on June 21.
Since then, the Government has written to health unions to begin talks to review the impact of working longer and increased contributions, a spokesperson said. Increasing the retirement age to 68 and ending the final salary scheme will be introduced from 2015.
BMA council chairman Dr Mark Porter said: “Industrial action was never our preferred way forward. We would always far prefer to seek changes to the government's plans for NHS pensions through negotiation and lobbying, rather than taking action that could jeopardise the much-valued relationship with our patients.”
But he warned that doctors’ anger over the plans would not just go away, and added: “We have not ruled out taking further industrial action in the future and we are committed to continuing to fight for a fairer deal in the longer term.”
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “We welcome the BMA’s decision to suspend further industrial action. Our aim has always been to achieve a pension that is fair to staff and to the taxpayer and will mean that the NHS pension scheme will remain one of the best available.”
Dean Royles, director of the NHS Employers organisation, said he understood there was “a great deal of concern around the pensions issue” but added: “The NHS will breathe a sigh of relief that there will be no more industrial action for the moment.
“The suspension of possible industrial action will help us all to redouble our work, in partnership, on this challenging NHS pension agenda.”
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