Doctors threatening to stage another strike over Government plans to cut their pay

Family doctors are considering striking over Government plans to cut their pay. The British Medical Association, the doctors’ union, will meet on Thursday to discuss whether to hold a vote on industrial action. They are at loggerheads with the Government over plans to change their lucrative contracts – changes that could mean they have to work longer hours for less money.

 

Family doctors are considering striking over Government plans to cut their pay

This summer, GPs and hospital doctors staged their first strike in 40 years over proposals to change their pensions.  For 24 hours they refused to treat patients unless they were urgent. But the protest proved highly unpopular with the public and in the end only one in ten doctors took part. This latest dispute centres on Department of Health plans to change a bonus scheme within the GP contract known as the Quality and Outcomes Framework, or QOF. It enables practices to earn points – converted into cash – for monitoring and treating conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia and obesity.

But officials want to raise the bar so GPs have to treat and monitor higher numbers of patients before they are rewarded. They also want to scrap payments known as 'organisational targets' whereby practices are given payments for sending staff on training courses and giving patients leaflets about opening hours. The Government says these are 'basic standards' and GPs should not be rewarded for providing them. But Dr Mark Porter, the chair of the BMA , accused the Government of being 'cavalier' and forcing the contract on family doctors.

The British Medical Association will meet on Thursday to discuss whether to hold a vote on industrial action

In an interview with GP magazine, (please keep), he said the union's general practitioner's committee would discuss whether to ballot members on industrial action this Thursday. 'I wouldn't want to imply there is a deadline for industrial action. It is always one of the options open to a profession whose negotiations are being treated in such a cavalier manner,' he said. 'At the moment the Government has decided to pull back and decided to impose the contract rather than negotiating it.'

And Dr Laurence Buckman, chair of the BMA's GP committee said the changes would mean 'the addition of new work into existing remaining points for no new money'. The existing contract - brought in by Labour in 2004 - has resulted in GP average salaries soaring by 50 per cent to £105,000 a year. This was largely due to the introduction of the QOF bonus scheme, which makes up around a third of family doctors' salaries. But critics have said the scheme enables doctors to earn points too easily.

There is also evidence they have been overly focusing on the patients who bring in points and ignoring others. But the latest NHS figures show that GPs average salaries have fallen in the last year by 1.5 per cent to £104,100. Family doctors are self-employed and their salaries are largely determined by the amount of money made by their practice, or surgery. Any reduction to the income of the practice will result in a cut to their salaries.

Source: Daily Mail UK 

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