Militant doctors are out of control

It should tell you all you need to know about the BMA that, back in the 1940s, it even opposed the foundation of the NHS itself. It was little more than a professionalised protection racket back then, and it has remained so ever since.

Today, resident doctors in England have begun yet another five-day strike. In fact, this will be their thirteenth walkout since March 2023 - equivalent to more than 10 working weeks. Among their ludicrous demands is a 29 per cent pay rise. This is despite having already received pay rises totalling nearly 30 per cent over the past three years.

It is true that doctors’ salaries have fallen in real terms over recent decades, but to suggest the taxpayer can afford full pay restoration in one fell swoop is absurd. Many private sector workers have also experienced wage stagnation over recent years, but unlike resident doctors, they’re not able to cripple the NHS in protest.

And please let’s not pretend doctors are living on the breadline. The starting salary for a resident doctor fresh out of medical school is £38,831, meaning they already earn above the national average from day one. With overtime and on-call shifts, this quickly rises to more than £45,000 a year. In their second year, average total earnings rise to around £51,000.

In fact, some resident doctors can earn a base salary of up to £73,992, with total pay exceeding £100,000 - putting them in the top four per cent of earners. That’s before you factor in that many will then qualify as consultants, at which point they’ll earn an average of £161,600 - with many raking in vast sums on top by moonlighting in the private sector.

Then there’s their eye-watering pensions. Doctors receive a staggering 23.7 per cent pension contribution from the NHS. They’re among the few workers who still receive salary-linked defined benefit pensions, which pay a guaranteed and inflation-proof income, meaning their pensions are often worth about three-quarters of their salaries. So please don’t tell me the doctors’ pay demands are valid.

More reasonable is the BMA’s concern about a shortage of training places, with claims that more than 30,000 doctors are competing for just 10,000 specialist positions. But this is an area that the government already recognises needs work. It is in everyone’s interest to free up more training places, and downing tools does nothing to resolve the matter.

No wonder the public is losing sympathy. Historically, voters have sided with doctors during industrial disputes, not least because NHS staff are understandably more popular than politicians. But YouGov polling during the last walkout in July found that 52 per cent of Brits were against the strike. Just 34 per cent were in favour, down five per cent from two months before.

The British people are finally starting to see through the petulant militancy of the BMA. Appointments are being cancelled, waiting lists are being extended, and vital diagnoses are being delayed. Doctors may take the Hippocratic oath, yet their recent actions suggest a reckless disregard for patient safety.

Surely the time has come to make it illegal for doctors to strike? The police aren’t allowed to down tools. Neither is the military. There are even restrictions on prison staff staging walkouts.

No industrial dispute is so important that patients’ lives should be put at risk. Ban doctors from striking - and send them back to work.

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Listen to James Hanson on LBC Sunday mornings between 4-7am.

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