The moment they took office, Wes Streeting handed the BMA an inflation busting 28 per cent pay rise. No strings, no reform, no conditions. We warned Wes Streeting that appeasing the unions with a 28 per cent pay rise in return for no modernisation, productivity or conditions would see the unions quickly return for more.We have unfortunately been proven right. Having rejected this year’s offer, the BMA have been on strike again.
And the BMA will not stop, more than happy to push the NHS to breaking point. These latest strikes threaten patient safety, ballooning waiting lists, and a bill the public cannot afford. Walkouts have already cost the government £1.2 billion, and now this latest round is set to cost the NHS £50 million per day or £300 million over the period of strike action. This is money equivalent to 10,000 nurses, 6,000 doctors or 4,100 GPs.
A proud profession is being weaponised by the militant BMA. The ward has been abandoned for the picket line, and patients have been abandoned along with it. The NHS creaks under the strain, as appointments vanish and waiting lists stretch.
And if anybody needed a clearer picture of the BMA’s priorities, they got it this week. The union has been forced to cancel its own resident doctors’ conference because its own staff are going on strike. BMA workers have been offered a below-inflation pay rise of 2.75 per cent. The same union that brought the NHS to a standstill demanding inflation-busting rises for doctors is offering its own employees less than three per cent. The BMA preaches one thing and practises another, which tells you everything you need to know about who is really running this show, and what it is really about.
Labour’s response has been to look the other way. They have chosen the union over the patient, the paymaster over the public, the path of least resistance over the demands of responsible government.
Astonishingly, Labour have gone even further, actively tilting the playing field. The Employment Rights Act has handed union organisers new freedoms to operate on NHS time, with staff in some trusts permitted to spend more than half their working hours on union activity.
This is taxpayer money being put towards the organisation of strikes that distracts the NHS from caring for patients. Rather than being tough with the unions, the Health Secretary continues to bow down to the BMA. This is not sustainable, nor fair, to patients, to taxpayers, or to the many NHS staff who continue to work tirelessly despite these challenges.
Streeting has lost the thread entirely.
A Health Secretary should be there to protect patients, not to manage an endless cycle of union negotiations of his own making. Too pre-occupied with negotiations with the BMA, this ill-thought through plan is leading to greater polarisation between the taxpayer, government, and NHS staff.
Under Labour, the NHS doesn’t belong to the people who fund it, or the people who use it, it belongs to the people who threaten it. Labour are handing the NHS over, brick by brick, shift by shift, to the union barons who break it and bill you for the damage.
Consequentially, confidence is being eroded by constant disruption, weak Labour leadership, because Labour fundamentally do not have the backbone to confront difficult choices.
Conservatives funded the NHS with record levels of investment, but when we did, we ensured that the money that was being provided came with the benefits the public expected, like IT upgrades, infrastructure and estate improvements, and productivity reforms. The fundamental importance of public sector reform is something Labour either cannot or willingly refuse to grasp.
The next Conservative Government will legislate to end this cycle. NHS doctors will no longer have the right to strike. Even here at home, we do not allow soldiers or police officers to strike, so we will not allow those entrusted with life itself to walk away from it.
We will abolish facility time in the NHS and make sure not a penny of public money spent organising action against the public. And we will legislate minimum service levels to guarantee that A&Es remain open, that ambulances roll, whatever the BMA decides.
These changes would bring the UK in line with other nations across the world. Patients’ lives and wellbeing are simply too important to be placed at risk.
This approach is about restoring balance, ensuring that the rights of staff are matched by the rights of patients to receive care when they need it. It is time Labour realised the same – and backed our plan.
Conservatives are the only party prepared to take those decisions, ensure taxpayers’ and patients get the service they deserve, and that the NHS remains a source of pride for generations to come.
Stuart Andrew MP is the Shadow Health Secretary.
Labour love to capitulate.
The moment they took office, Wes Streeting handed the BMA an inflation busting 28 per cent pay rise. No strings, no reform, no conditions. We warned Wes Streeting that appeasing the unions with a 28 per cent pay rise in return for no modernisation, productivity or conditions would see the unions quickly return for more.We have unfortunately been proven right. Having rejected this year’s offer, the BMA have been on strike again.
And the BMA will not stop, more than happy to push the NHS to breaking point. These latest strikes threaten patient safety, ballooning waiting lists, and a bill the public cannot afford. Walkouts have already cost the government £1.2 billion, and now this latest round is set to cost the NHS £50 million per day or £300 million over the period of strike action. This is money equivalent to 10,000 nurses, 6,000 doctors or 4,100 GPs.
A proud profession is being weaponised by the militant BMA. The ward has been abandoned for the picket line, and patients have been abandoned along with it. The NHS creaks under the strain, as appointments vanish and waiting lists stretch.
And if anybody needed a clearer picture of the BMA’s priorities, they got it this week. The union has been forced to cancel its own resident doctors’ conference because its own staff are going on strike. BMA workers have been offered a below-inflation pay rise of 2.75 per cent. The same union that brought the NHS to a standstill demanding inflation-busting rises for doctors is offering its own employees less than three per cent. The BMA preaches one thing and practises another, which tells you everything you need to know about who is really running this show, and what it is really about.
Labour’s response has been to look the other way. They have chosen the union over the patient, the paymaster over the public, the path of least resistance over the demands of responsible government.
Astonishingly, Labour have gone even further, actively tilting the playing field. The Employment Rights Act has handed union organisers new freedoms to operate on NHS time, with staff in some trusts permitted to spend more than half their working hours on union activity.
This is taxpayer money being put towards the organisation of strikes that distracts the NHS from caring for patients. Rather than being tough with the unions, the Health Secretary continues to bow down to the BMA. This is not sustainable, nor fair, to patients, to taxpayers, or to the many NHS staff who continue to work tirelessly despite these challenges.
Streeting has lost the thread entirely.
A Health Secretary should be there to protect patients, not to manage an endless cycle of union negotiations of his own making. Too pre-occupied with negotiations with the BMA, this ill-thought through plan is leading to greater polarisation between the taxpayer, government, and NHS staff.
Under Labour, the NHS doesn’t belong to the people who fund it, or the people who use it, it belongs to the people who threaten it. Labour are handing the NHS over, brick by brick, shift by shift, to the union barons who break it and bill you for the damage.
Consequentially, confidence is being eroded by constant disruption, weak Labour leadership, because Labour fundamentally do not have the backbone to confront difficult choices.
Conservatives funded the NHS with record levels of investment, but when we did, we ensured that the money that was being provided came with the benefits the public expected, like IT upgrades, infrastructure and estate improvements, and productivity reforms. The fundamental importance of public sector reform is something Labour either cannot or willingly refuse to grasp.
The next Conservative Government will legislate to end this cycle. NHS doctors will no longer have the right to strike. Even here at home, we do not allow soldiers or police officers to strike, so we will not allow those entrusted with life itself to walk away from it.
We will abolish facility time in the NHS and make sure not a penny of public money spent organising action against the public. And we will legislate minimum service levels to guarantee that A&Es remain open, that ambulances roll, whatever the BMA decides.
These changes would bring the UK in line with other nations across the world. Patients’ lives and wellbeing are simply too important to be placed at risk.
This approach is about restoring balance, ensuring that the rights of staff are matched by the rights of patients to receive care when they need it. It is time Labour realised the same – and backed our plan.
Conservatives are the only party prepared to take those decisions, ensure taxpayers’ and patients get the service they deserve, and that the NHS remains a source of pride for generations to come.