‘We will strike for as long as it takes!’ – says BMA chair of Council Prof Philip Banfield

‘WE WILL strike for as long as it takes,’ British Medical Association (BMA) Chair of Council Professor Philip Banfield told the doctors’ union’s cheering Annual Representative Meeting (ARM) in Liverpool yesterday, receiving a standing ovation.

Professor Banfield said: ‘If you look at our health service today you see hospitals falling apart. We have to look patients in the eye and admit that we cannot give the care we’ve been trained to give. We have been warning of a catastrophe for years, because of the cuts of successive governments. Enough is enough. Today we are fighting back…

‘Our greatest strength is our unity. 24,000 new members have joined the BMA this year. This is a year of action and renewal. This year our association became a force of nature and we are fighting for future generations.

To lose, to allow the mass exodus of doctors, to allow the continuation of managed decline, pay erosion and casual disregard for the BMA will not happen. We cannot stand on the sidelines when our expertise is maligned…

‘Our junior doctors told you what they’re worth, and they are not worth less than they were in 2008. Throughout we have said that we would meet the government without preconditions.

‘Consultants have suffered the biggest decline in pay. They are the most senior doctors who train the next generation, The public is on our side. The government is bringing in the anti-worker bill. The UK already has the toughest such laws in Europe.

‘We need safe staffing levels 365 days a year. We will fight against this law until it is repealed.

‘GPs are beginning a process to enter into dispute on a new contract if current negotiations fail. There is chronic underinvestment in general practice. Waiting lists were already rising before 2020. General practice is not a dumping ground for the failure of secondary care.

‘GPs are unbelievable experts at managing risk. If we lose general practice we lose the NHS. The anti-GP narrative has got to stop.

‘England is almost 50,000 doctors short. Every metric is flashing red lights, yet PM Sunak tells us the NHS is safe with him. Staff are burnt out and suffer a huge cut in the value of their pay

‘It is shameful that the government took the nurses’ union to court. The 75th Anniversary of the NHS threatens to be a wake.

‘This country knows what we are worth. So let’s send a clear message to those in government who cannot ignore us any longer. We will not stay silent about what needs to change.

‘We are ready for this fight. We will strike for as long as it takes. Let’s stand together as one profession. Let’s organise together as one workforce. Let’s stick together as one BMA. With head, and heart and hand, this is your time. And this is just the beginning. Thank you,’ Professor Banfield concluded to a cheering standing ovation.

An ARM motion moved by Enfield and Haringey Division, stated: ‘This meeting recognises the situation in emergency NHS care is creating “catastrophic consequences for patient safety and mortality” according the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, which estimates there were 23,000 excess deaths due to delays in emergency care last year.

‘This meeting calls on the BMA to endorse the RCEM call for 10,000 extra NHS beds, the filling of all doctor and other trained staff vacancies and doubling medical school intake for doctor training.’

Proposing the motion, Anna Athow said: ‘As the Royal College of Nursing leader told members: “Patients are not dying because nurses are striking, nurses are striking because patients are dying.”

‘And that’s today’s reality. The RCEM calls for 13,000 more hospital beds to drive meaningful improvement…

‘Armies of medical associates and apprentices are not going to address the 46,000 doctor vacancies. The entire trade union movement should support the struggle of doctors and nurses and demand the TUC calls a general strike to bring this government down.

‘This is the only way to end the carnage in emergency care and defend the NHS.’

The ARM voted in favour of the motion.

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