Devastating junior doctors’ strikes ‘cost taxpayer close to £7MILLION a day’

Devastating strikes by young doctors cost taxpayers millions every day, figures show.

Budget-strapped NHS hospitals must hire better-paid consultants to fill gaps in rosters. Some cost up to £262 per hour.

A Tory MP called the costs “unacceptable”.

But the British Medical Association argued it would be cheaper if the government paid doctors ‘what they are worth’.

The militant union – which staged a three-day strike last week – is demanding a 35 percent wage increase to stem inflation.

Tens of thousands of surgeries and appointments have been canceled this year due to NHS strikes.

Fifty-four hospital trusts paid a combined £32.5 million to cover services during two previous BMA doctors’ interruptions, the study found.

According to The Sun, no data was available for the other 70 or so organizations.

The paper’s research claimed the ‘actual cost across England’ could be in the region of £50 million.

This would equate to £7 million a day, it claimed.

Tory MP Paul Bristow, a member of the House of Commons health committee, said the charges were ‘unacceptable’.

He added, “The idea that young doctors can shrug their shoulders for this kind of money is wasted faith.”

More than half a million NHS appointments in England have been canceled since December due to healthcare strikes, official figures show

The BMA said: ‘These data show that it would be much more cost effective for the government to pay doctors what they are worth.’

Junior doctors are paid between £30,000 and £58,000 a year depending on their experience.

Consultants can earn up to £120,000 a year.

With guidance from the BMA for strike days, they are advised to charge hospitals £158 per hour to cover weekday services.

This rises to £262 per hour if they are asked to work nights at weekends.