Sympathy for striking doctors is ‘exhausted’ as two-thirds of British adults support the government’s public-sector wage settlements, a poll shows.
Hospital consultants with an average income of £134,000 today launched a two-day strike expected to result in the cancellation of tens of thousands of appointments and surgeries.
The senior medics are refusing to provide non-urgent care as they seek a 35 percent pay rise, with waiting lists at an all-time high of 7.47 million.
But survey data shared exclusively with the Mail shows that 65 per cent of the public think ministers were right to give teachers, doctors and police officers pay rises of around 6 per cent in a bid to end the union action.
Meanwhile, Mick Lynch, the militant leader of the RMT railway union, told advisers to “keep fighting” for higher pay and “seize this dispute to the bitter end.”
Consultants gather outside hospitals and at the BMA’s London headquarters, where they were joined this afternoon by Mick Lynch (pictured), the militant leader of the RMT railway union
Nearly 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
The award, which is higher than that awarded to nurses, prompted teachers’ unions to suspend strikes, but was denounced as ‘offensive’ and ‘ridiculous’ by the British Medical Association.
It comes as a new strike law was granted Royal Assent today, allowing ministers to impose minimum service levels during union action by ambulance workers, firefighters, railway workers and people in other sectors deemed essential.
Consultants gather outside hospitals and at the BMA’s London headquarters, where they were joined this afternoon by Mr Lynch.
He told the advisers, “You have to keep fighting.
‘As soon as this payment round is over, there will be another payment round. Then you have to fight for the financing of our future society.
“There is a change coming in this country, I can feel it out there.
“They told us a year ago that everyone would hate us. They told us we would be defeated in two weeks – well, we didn’t win, but we are far from defeated.
“We are determined to make a deal for our people. We hope that the BMA is determined to make a deal for their people and, if necessary, take this dispute to the bitter end and fight for the future of our people and for our society.”
To huge applause, Mr Lynch said that ‘part of that change’ is to get rid of this government ‘as soon as possible’.
The consultants’ strike follows a five-day strike by junior doctors, which ended on Tuesday and was the longest in NHS history.
The junior doctors have received a pay rise of 6 per cent plus a consolidated payment of £1,250, which equates to an average increase of 8.1 per cent.
But they have vowed to strike every month until they receive 35 percent inflation.
The survey of 2,052 adults by think tank and pollster More in Common, conducted after last week’s award, found only 19 per cent disagreed with the government’s figure, with broad support from supporters of all major political parties.
About 45 percent say junior doctors are wrong to continue striking in the face of the increase and only 38 percent say they are right to plow through.
This is a significant reversal from an earlier poll in May, when 48 percent supported medics and 35 percent said they should return to wards.
Luke Tryl, director of More in Common in the UK, said: ‘Having been offered a pay deal that the public believes to be fair, sympathy for striking doctors seems to be running out.
“Support for striking doctors has reversed from our previous poll, suggesting it is now the BMA and not the government that needs to win the battle for public opinion.”
BMA adviser leaders have admitted using patients as ‘leverage’ in their bid for higher pay and accept that the strikes will negate Rishi Sunak’s pledge to cut waiting times.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said he was ‘disappointed’ that they had decided to go ahead with their action despite receiving a 6 per cent pay rise which would take their average income from £128,000 to £134,000 a year.
The health secretary said doctors have also benefited from recent changes to pension rules and can expect to retire at age 65 on an income of £60,000 a year.
Advisory members of the British Medical Association at a meeting at BMA’s London headquarters on July 20
Advisory members of the British Medical Association on the picket line outside University College London on July 20
Consultants provide a ‘Christmas Day’ level of service during their strike, meaning they only provide emergency care.
The strike by young doctors was more extensive as they withdrew all care, including from cancer wards and emergency departments, but the impact of the latest action is likely to be greater as the trainees cannot transfer to replace the absent senior colleagues.
Health leaders say this is likely to lead to a “virtual halt” in health care.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health organisations, said the NHS will be on ‘red alert’ and ‘drift and adrift’ during the strike.
He added: ‘Several members have estimated that each previous round of young doctors’ union action has cost them around half a million pounds, so there is an increasing financial toll that could run into many billions as the strikes go on.’
Patient Sarah Goodchild, 57, felt ‘angry’ after a hospital appointment made nine months ago for an endocrine disorder was canceled due to striking NHS advisers and said she fears people will die as a result of the industrial action.
The Norfolk silversmith said, “The condition I have is not in itself life-threatening or even life-limiting, but one of the possible causes of the hormonal imbalance is a pituitary tumor, in fact a brain tumor.
“So if I have a brain tumor, I really want to know about it as soon as possible.”
Ms Goodchild said she has ‘not much sympathy’ for striking NHS advisers given their high salaries.
She continued, “I see where the nurses are coming from in terms of their pay because they are clearly paid significantly less than doctors and from my experience with hospitals they do a lot more work.
‘I understand that young doctors especially feel passed over, you know their starting salaries are low, but they go up quite a bit during the first years of their practice.
“I think people will die, not me, because I don’t have a life-threatening condition, but there are plenty of people who will have life-threatening conditions.
“This will lead to delays in detection, delays in treatment and I think people will die.”
The BMA says consultants’ pay has been cut in real terms since 2008 and calls for wage recovery and reform of the pay review body that advises ministers on salary increases.
It claims their income increased by 14 percent during this period, while lawyers, accountants and architects have seen an increase of nearly 80 percent.
Dr. Vishal Sharma, chair of the BMA consultants’ committee, said: ‘This dispute is not just about an annual salary settlement, it’s about the reality of 14 years of back pay for consultants, about our loss in our wages in real terms of 35 per cent and the broken wage rating system that made this possible.
“There is absolutely no reason why the wages of some of the country’s leading physicians have not kept pace with those of similar professions.
“Consultants are going to be on the picket lines today because we’re angry and at the bottom.”