A chef-in-training who claims he is ‘constantly worried’ about how to pay his bills owns a £500,000 flat with no mortgage, the Mail can reveal.
Dr. Robert Laurenson, 29, spearheaded a series of crippling strikes as co-chair of the British Medical Association’s young doctors committee.
The union activist wants the taxpayer to fund a 35 per cent pay rise for medics in training, claiming that many are considering leaving the NHS because they are ‘struggling at home’.
But property deeds from the Land Registry show that in May 2019 he bought a flat in Newham, East London, for £484,000.
The property, on the site of the former West Ham United football stadium, is unmortgaged and is now valued at around £524,000.
Dr. Robert Laurenson, 29, spearheaded a series of crippling strikes as co-chair of the British Medical Association’s young doctors committee
Dr. Laurenson urged colleagues to leave hospitals, including emergency rooms and cancer departments, for five days earlier this month during the longest strike in NHS history.
And he has called on them to strike again for four days next month, starting August 11. It will come just nine days after thousands of new doctors have started work in the NHS.
In December last year he said: ‘Continued worry about how we are going to pay our bills is leading many junior doctors to question their future in the NHS.
“Junior doctors are risking their lives to care for patients during the pandemic, but this contribution has been ignored and morale is rapidly plummeting as many face hardships at home and a rough deal at work.”
Strikes by doctors, nurses and physiotherapists, among others, have already led to the cancellation of 819,000 appointments and operations.
Rishi Sunak has awarded trainee doctors a pay rise of six per cent plus a consolidated payment of £1,250, equivalent to an average increase of 8.1 per cent.
But property deeds from the Land Registry show that he bought a flat in Newham, East London, in May 2019 for £484,000. 524,000
They will pocket the increase, but have vowed to strike each month until they receive more, leaving patients on waiting lists for longer.
Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith said: ‘It is clear that people like Laurenson are not as difficult as the BMA tries to make them out to be.
“Instead of making unreasonable demands for more taxpayer money, the BMA trainee doctors should call off the strikes and go back to helping patients.”
The average age of a first-time home buyer in London is 33.8 years, with a typical price of £466,660 and a down payment of £61,000.
Dr. Laurenson, who caused controversy by traveling to a friend’s wedding during the first doctors’ strike, is also a director of his family’s investment company.
Westholme Investments Limited has over £2 million in investment and previously managed a golf course in Surrey which has been described as ‘one of the best’ in the county.
Junior physician members of the British Medical Association on the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London on July 13, 2023
More than 700,000 NHS appointments have been canceled since the strikes began seven months ago. More than 100,000 were canceled in the last five-day strike by junior doctors
Dr. Laurenson was appointed director in 2013, a year after starting his medical training at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
It is clear that he has no day-to-day duties at the company, receives no salary or dividend, and is not a shareholder.
The GP trainee works at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, having taken a year off from college to work as a freelance doctor for “money and wellbeing,” according to his LinkedIn page.
The company he worked for as a deputy doctor has taken millions from the NHS by cashing in on staff shortages.
He attended the £46,566 a year Sevenoaks School in Kent, one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the country.
A recent survey by Opinium of 2,080 adults in the UK found that 47 per cent think pay for junior doctors is ‘about right’ and 10 per cent think it is ‘too high’.
The base salary for a first-year doctor will rise from £29,300 to £32,300 and a doctor progressing to specialty training can expect an increase from £40,200 to £43,900.
Doctors receive allowances for evening and weekend work on top of their basic salary and can be promoted to consultant level, with an average income of £134,000.
A BMA spokesperson said: “Inquiring into the details of individuals’ lives will not change the fact that junior doctors have seen their pay fall by more than a quarter in 15 years.”