Young doctors will be able to work part-time if the strikes lead to a big pay rise, union boss tells colleagues.
- The BMA vice-president has said that many young doctors are “quite comfortable”
- The comments come ahead of the three-day departure of around 40,000 young doctors
- They are demanding a 35 per cent pay rise, which would take the salary to £75,000
- But it has been suggested that a big increase could allow them to work part-time.
Young doctors will be able to work part-time if the strikes generate a big pay rise, a union leader told colleagues.
Many young people are “quite comfortable”, admitted Dr Emma Runswick, vice president of the British Medical Association (BMA), in online chats with doctors.
His comments come as up to 40,000 young doctors across England, already earning £57,000 a year on average, will retire for three days from tomorrow.
If they win their demand for a whopping 35 per cent raise, a typical young man’s salary would exceed £75,000, well more than double the average UK salary package.
At first worryingly, even young doctors working at A&E will take part in the walkout, potentially leaving emergency departments critically understaffed.
His comments come as up to 40,000 young doctors across England, already earning £57,000 a year on average, will go into three-day retirement.
Publicly, the BMA claims that emergency care this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will “be no different to any other day”, while it has dismissed claims that strikes cost lives. Privately, however, some of its key leaders have admitted that patients can be harmed. Last night the union issued a stinging letter rejecting a late offer to speak from Health Secretary Steve Barclay.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt responded with an olive branch, telling The Mail on Sunday: “The government is ready to talk.”
The BMA argues that the strike is necessary as young doctors’ pay has fallen by 35 percent in real terms since 2008, a figure disputed by ministers. He wants “full pay restoration” to 2008 levels.
But in a remarkable online chat, 27-year-old Dr Runswick admitted that one reason for the high demand was that it “will allow some (young doctors) to work less than full-time rather than leave” the NHS. .
He also told a Doctors’ Money podcast last summer: “A lot of us are still pretty comfortable.”
If the BMA achieves its targets, even newly graduated ‘Foundation Year 1’ doctors would earn £50,000, instead of £36,500.
But the analysis shows that pay for younger doctors (years 1 and 2 of the Foundation) has stagnated more than that for mid-ranking doctors since 2008, which helps explain why the younger team is leading the way. burden.
Dr. Runswick said in a podcast that the strikes would cause “harm” to patients, as they would result in “delayed elective care.” A health chief said the next three days would be “very, very dangerous” but that “the public does not realize the seriousness of the situation.”
Mr Hunt said: ‘The vast majority of doctors would like to find a way to solve these problems; the government is ready to talk.
A BMA spokeswoman said: “Young doctors are worth no less than they were in 2008/9 and yet this government continues to undervalue them.”
