10.02.16
Eleventh-hour pickets
Despite some genuine attempts to dodge the final of what ended up being just two strike spells, junior doctors have walked out today over longstanding issues in a thorny contract dispute with the government.
The BMA called off the second strike threat, planned for the end of January, after some progress with government-appointed Sir David Dalton – just a few days after NHS England chief Simon Stevens guaranteed that the Salford Royal boss was the right man for the job.
But it turns out that he wasn’t – or, more likely, the issue was already too knotty to untangle that quickly. In early February, the union confirmed the third strike was still on.
Much to Dalton’s credit, though, the BMA watered down what was originally scheduled to be a full walkout, and most of the dispute’s sticking points have also been resolved.
The Salford Royal CEO wrote last week to the entire 45,000-strong workforce making a personal appeal to end today’s walkout, but that, too, fell through.
The Patients Association made another eleventh hour appeal yesterday, with its chief exec Katherine Murphy warning the strike will cause uncertainty for patients and the wider public.
“Thousands of patients have already had their operations and appointments cancelled and even more will suffer the same fate as a consequence of this next day of action,” she said.
Soon after, national media began reporting that last-minute talks were indeed taking place between the union and its employers, although this time not involving Acas conciliators.
This came together with fresh claims that the BMA put forward a proposal for basic pay that would have allegedly been cost-neutral. A source close to the Independent said both NHS Employers and the department teams were on-board, but health secretary Jeremy Hunt rejected it. That itself has since been denied.
Ellesmere Port and Neston MP Justin Madders brought up the issue during a debate in the Commons yesterday, but the health secretary largely dodged the question.
“The only reason we do not have a solution on the junior doctors is the BMA saying in December that it would negotiate on the one outstanding issue – pay on Saturdays – but last month refusing to negotiate,” Hunt said.
“If the BMA is prepared to negotiate and be flexible on that, so are we. It is noticeable that despite 3,000 cancelled operations, no one in the Labour party is condemning the strikes.”
Amid so many uncertainties, the one standing definite is that the contract will be imposed sooner rather than later, even if no agreement is reached. Dalton had already advised the government that a deal is needed by no later than mid-February, and health minister Ben Gummer MP told the Commons on Monday: “It has to be done at some point, and that point is fast approaching”.
(Top image c. John Stillwell, PA Wire)