Junior doctors urged to pick up lucrative locum shifts by union
Trainee doctors urge union to take up lucrative replacement services to recoup lost pay as NHS tries to recover from chaos caused by 96-hour strike
- Locum shifts cost taxpayers £3 billion last year and are a popular option
- The BMA tells its 45,000 junior members to ‘schedule additional replacement shifts now’
Trainee doctors are being encouraged by their union to take up lucrative replacement shifts after this week’s 96-hour strike, when hospitals will be in chaos.
The British Medical Association has advised junior doctors to recoup the salary they lose by going on strike and ‘schedule additional replacement shifts now’ for ‘just before and after the strike days when there is enough work to do’.
Locum shifts, which cost taxpayers £3bn last year, are an increasingly popular option for NHS bosses to plug roster gaps in hospitals across the country.
Last year the Mail revealed that trainee doctors are leaving NHS staff jobs en masse for substitute work, earning up to £17,000 a month in some cases.
In an online guide for activists, the BMA tells its 45,000 junior members: ‘Employers will provide substitute services for the strike days. If you can, we recommend not covering these days as it could undercut the action.
The British Medical Association has advised junior doctors to recoup the salary they lose by going on strike. Pictured: Striking young doctors at Homerton Hospital in Hackney on March 14
Locum shifts, which cost taxpayers £3bn last year, are an increasingly popular option for NHS bosses to plug roster gaps in hospitals across the country
“Instead, schedule alternate shifts elsewhere in the month and maybe just before and after strike days when there’s plenty of work to do.”
But Tory MP Sir John Hayes said: ‘It would be completely unacceptable to take time off to strike and make the money later by localising. That’s bad advice and the BMA is irresponsible.
Locums play an important role in the service, but it should not compensate those who have struck. I think most doctors would recognize that the money should be put into patient care.”
A spokesman for the BMA said: ‘Junior doctors lose wages when they take industrial action, so taking on extra shifts is one way to make up for some of these losses.’
The BMA also offers a minimum hourly ‘rate card’ for junior doctors, with rates ranging from £62 per hour to £154 per hour based on experience and service.