Striking NHS medics WILL receive NO more cash, officials confirm – as health leader warns strikes will eat up £200m for winter crisis protection

Striking NHS medics will no longer be offered money, the Health Secretary confirmed today.

Junior doctors and consultants will stage new strikes next week in their ongoing row with the government over pay. It will be the first time in healthcare history that they have taken joint action, with leaders labeling it a “nightmare scenario.”

But Steve Barclay today stressed that there would be no further talks over pay with the British Medical Association – the union co-ordinating the action in England.

It comes as the Government has confirmed it will hand the NHS £200 million to boost the service over winter, the busiest time of year due to the influx of Covid and flu patients, while this year it will also happily are having strikes.

But health chiefs today warned that funding will be eaten up by the health service’s £1 billion bill to cover industrial action – with strikes planned for September alone costing more than £200 million.

Junior doctors and consultants will stage a joint 24-hour strike from 7am on September 20, with medics only offering a Christmas Day level of service – meaning emergency care will be provided but no elective surgeries will take place.

Consultants will also strike on September 19, while junior doctors will continue to strike until 7am on September 23.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, described the strikes as ‘the nightmare scenario that NHS leaders have long feared’ and warned that it was ‘inevitable’ that patient safety would be at risk.

The medics have demanded a pay rise above inflation, while junior medics had previously set the figure at 35 percent.

The government has offered medics, along with other public sector workers, a six percent pay increase. Junior doctors also received a one-off payment of £1,250.

It means the basic salary for first-year junior doctors has risen from £29,300 to £32,300, while the full-time basic salary for consultants has risen from £88,300 to £93,600.

The Health Secretary told Times Radio this morning: ‘We have reached a fair and final settlement on pay.’

Mr Barclay added: ‘Their demand is 35 per cent and I don’t think offering 35 per cent is fair, to nurses, to paramedics, to those in our armed forces, to teachers to others, both in the public sector and in the public sector. the private sector.

‘And we also have an obligation as a government to reduce inflation, which is important for everyone in the NHS and for the entire economy.

“So we have to be balanced in our approach.”

It comes as the Prime Minister today confirmed he is giving the NHS £200m to ‘strengthen the health service during its busiest period, while protecting elective care so we can continue to reduce waiting lists’.

The announcement followed a roundtable yesterday with the Prime Minister, Mr Barclay, clinical leaders and NHS chiefs to discuss the NHS’s preparation for the colder months.

The NHS is thrown into chaos every winter due to a wave of patients affected by seasonal bugs, respiratory diseases and, in recent years, Covid.

But this year the country is also dealing with a record 7.68 million people in healthcare queues, strikes among its workforce and an exodus of staff.

Mr Barclay said: ‘I know winter brings huge challenges for the NHS and that’s why we’re working with health leaders to ensure we’re prepared sooner.

‘We are working closely with trusts to see how we can continue to use technology and new ways of working to strengthen health and social services.’

He added: ‘Yesterday I heard and saw first-hand how all parts of the NHS are working together to ensure it can withstand winter pressures for years to come.’

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, he said the plans will focus on tackling delayed discharges – with hospitals unable to give sick Brits beds last winter because they were occupied by people fit to go home.

He said virtual wards – allowing patients to receive treatment and care at home rather than in hospital – will reduce pressure on hospitals.

Mr Barclay said: ‘It’s hugely popular. “Many patients say they would much rather recover from their surgery at home in a familiar environment, but they want to do so knowing they have the comfort of a safety net in terms of the clinical support available.”

The health service has already received £1 billion as part of an emergency department recovery plan to increase the number of beds, ambulances and virtual wards.

And £40 million has been given to boost social care capacity and discharge rates.

However, the NHS Confederation’s Taylor warned that the financial boost will not be felt due to the costs of continued strikes among the workforce.

He said the NHS leader “may be wondering how much impact” the money will have as winter is almost here and strikes have already cost the health service £1 billion.

Mr Taylor said: ‘The risk is that this money is simply absorbed to cover existing and escalating costs elsewhere, with patients seeing little benefit in terms of day-to-day care, waiting lists or performance.

“There remain serious challenges to solve, the most urgent of which is industrial action, and simply wishing them away will not achieve that. We need to see this situation resolved because it has already gone too far.”

He warned that the cost of strikes by consultants, trainee doctors and radiographers in September alone is ‘likely to cost well over £200 million, wiping out the effects of this new money and putting patient safety at the highest risk level ​​that we have known for a long time. time’.