The British Medical Association has hit back at claims the organisation refused to allow doctors to keep working in critical areas during five days of strike action.
Resident doctors – previously known as junior doctors – began a five day strike across England on Friday as part of an escalating row between NHS bosses and the BMA over pay.
The strike ended at 7am this morning (Wednesday).
During a strike, NHS trusts can apply for measures, often called “derogations”, which would allow doctors to return to work providing critical services when it is feared patient safety is at risk.
In an update to staff on Tuesday morning, Sir James Mackey, chief executive of the NHS, said 18 requests for patient safety mitigations (derogations) had been turned down.
Sir Jim claimed that in nine of the 18 cases, the BMA said it would allow doctors to return to work, but only if they were paid “extortionate” rates.
“Unfortunately, despite all requests being made and verified by senior medics, 18 have been rejected by the BMA, with half of those rejections saying the BMA would support only if extortionate pay rates were offered to striking doctors,” Sir James said.
But a spokesperson for the BMA told Sky News the claims by Sir James were “untrue and unfounded”.
“When a derogation is agreed between the BMA and NHS England and which requires a resident doctor to return to work, they do not receive any kind of enhanced payment because those resident doctors are going back to their ward or department to do their usual work,” they said.
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“Sir James is clearly quite confused about the derogation process if he is suggesting anything different.”
‘Wholly wrong and untrue’
The BMA said before any derogation is granted, a trust is expected to demonstrate it has “done everything possible to incentivise non-striking doctors to cover the vacant shifts”.
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“This can include paying enhanced rates of pay and this is a usual practice when asking doctors to take on extra-contractual work, over and above their normal hours and is not exclusive to covering gaps that trusts have failed to adequately plan for during industrial action.”
They said the claim that the BMA requires increased payments to striking doctors is “wholly wrong and Sir James Mackey should withdraw these comments and apologise for the misleading impression they are creating”.
Fewer patients were affected by the five-day walkout compared to previous strikes, NHS officials said this morning, with fewer doctors taking to picket lines.
The number of appointments, procedures and operations that were postponed are expected to be published later this week.
But as this week’s strike comes to an end, the union is not ruling out further strikes.
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Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said future talks could lead to improvements in the working lives of resident doctors but he has repeatedly said there is no more money for pay.
But BMA leaders have insisted there must be some discussion around pay.
Last July, resident doctors were awarded a raise of 22% over two years, the highest public sector award in recent years.
But the BMA has argued that pay has declined significantly since 2008, and are calling for a rise of 29.2% to reverse “pay erosion”.
