Ministers have made plenty of mistakes in the run-up to these strikes. But they’re not the only ones who’ve let doctors down 🖊️ IsabelHardman for ipaperviews
The BMA has regularly overplayed its hand to the extent that ministers don’t respect the union, regardless of how they feel about medics this week? The 72-hour walkout comes to an end on Thursday morning, but it leaves a deep scar on an already seriously wounded NHS as hospitals cancelled appointments and had to spread consultants even more thinly to ensure patients were looked after.
But is it really the best point to make? The BMA are asking for pay rises that don’t so much bust inflation as break the sound barrier: they want the Government to restore junior doctor pay in England to its 2008/09 levels, which means a rise of around 35 per cent. Since 2008, medics have seen a 26 per cent real terms cut in their pay. The risk for the BMA, though, is that the 35 per cent demand is so eye-watering that it blurs people’s ability to see the wider context.
The union spent the ensuing decades opposing almost every reform. When I researched my forthcoming book on the history of the health service, I regularly found archive documents in which the union would oppose a change by arguing strongly in favour of a system it had only a few years ago campaigned against, too.
This call for respect is fine – to a point. But the BMA has regularly overplayed its hand to the extent that ministers don’t respect the union, regardless of how they feel about medics. In the 1970s, it militated against attempts to abolish private beds in NHS hospitals, and ended up being nicknamed the “British Money Association”.
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