Union leaders were today accused of ‘acting like football agents’ after urging NHS consultants to charge up to £250 an hour for overnight overtime.
The British Medical Association (BMA) has published a ‘price tag’ of how much doctors should charge employers for non-contract work.
This applies to overtime or overtime to help clear the backlog of patients who require routine care such as hip and knee surgery.
It said consultants should charge a minimum of £150 per hour for work on weekdays from 7am to 7pm, as well as £200 for 7pm to 11pm.
The £250 figure is for work done overnight between 11pm and 7am, while weekends from 7am to 11pm will be charged a minimum of £200 per hour, BMA declare.
Hospital bosses have slashed fees, up to ‘many times their hourly rate’ for consultants – who are paid up to £119,000 a year.
One senior figure claimed ‘very poor optics’, while another accused the BMA of ‘pushling rates up on their own ego’.
But the BMA objected, claiming that the fees were negotiated by the consultants and that the price tag should ensure a ‘fairer and more consistent approach to overtime pay’.
British Medical Association leaders were today accused of ‘acting like football agents’ after urging NHS consultants to charge at least £250 an hour for overnight shifts. NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer (right) said ‘the majority have no intention of agreeing to the BMA’s request’. Left: head of the BMA, Professor Philip Banfield
The report by the Health Service Journal reported that it occurred in the context of doctors and nurses threatening about a salary dispute this winter.
The Royal College of Nursing is voting its more than 300,000 members on industrial action, while junior doctors have told ministers they will vote on strike action if it proposes to pay. Their ‘unacceptable’ 2% salary was not enhanced. Senior doctors are also considering action.
Physiotherapists across England and Wales have today joined the chorus of NHS workers posing the threat of strike action.
NHS trust leaders have made their most recent pay claim from consultants who are some of the best paid staff in the health industry.
This year, consultants have been given a 4.5% salary increase by the Government. The BMA initially described it as “nothing more than an insult”.
An anonymous trust director told HSJ that the rate represents “the biggest threat to[their trust’s]elective recovery”, while another boss described it as ” absolute hostage situation”.
A third said: ‘The BMA seems to be operating more like football agents and pushing the odds up based on their egos rather than the wishes of the members.’
While another added: ‘I think it was misjudged.
‘The sight of people with six-figure salaries asks for a lot, multiples of their hourly wages when many of their colleagues do the same but in half-and-a-half or double time, especially in crisis period ‘cost of living’, very poor. ‘
But other trusts say their advisors have not made any requests for additional funds, despite the widely publicized price tag.
NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer said: ‘The main health union’s unilateral intervention to seek to push premiums even further above what is paid has been feared by our members. .
“Most have no intention of agreeing to the BMA’s request, especially given the much lower overtime rates for other groups of employees.”
However, Mr Mortimer added: ‘However, our members fully recognize the substantive and very real concerns of senior doctors about the potential impact of pension and tax increases.
‘Four years ago, the Government took action to change the way the annual pension is taxed and we believe it would be a reasonable long-term move to waive public sector pensions.’
Dr Vishal Sharma, chair of the BMA advisory committee, defended the plan.
He said: ‘With the NHS over and understaffed like it is now, NHS trusts are constantly asking consultants to do more and more outside of their normal working hours, as well as overtime. Standard wages often include many unpaid people. hours working on it.
‘Consultants have had to be overworked, underpaid and undervalued in this way.
‘The most recent pay cut was due to a 34.9% drop in take-home pay in real terms for the average consultant since 2008/9. The NHS is in crisis with almost 11,000 medical vacancies.
The BMA says consultants should charge a minimum of £150 per hour for work on weekdays from 7am to 7pm, as well as £200 for 7pm to 11pm. The £250 figure is for work done overnight between 11pm and 7am, while weekends from 7am to 11pm will be charged a minimum of £200 per hour
NHS England figures show 6.8 million patients were waiting in line for regular hospital treatment in July, equivalent to one in eight people. Nearly 380,000 have been waiting for over a year
‘Even more worryingly, more than six in 10 doctors are experiencing work-related stress and anxiety, half want to reduce their hours and 20 per cent are considering leaving the NHS.
‘Rather than address this chronic staffing shortage, NHS trusts are forcing consultants to take on more and more work outside of their contract.
‘We are clear that this is unsustainable and is the driving force behind the burnout and burnout experienced by senior doctors.’
The BMA said ‘there is a large variation in overtime rates’ across the country and many trusts are working ‘to reduce wages for this off-contract work’.
Dr Sharma said: ‘The BMA is clear that many of these salaries do not fully reflect the skills, experience and responsibilities of consultants.
‘The BMA’s price tag has been developed to address this and to ensure that NHS trusts take a more equitable and consistent approach to overtime pay.
‘The price tag has been based on rates already offered in parts of the country to reflect the market value of the consultants’ work.
‘As well as offering extra work, the price tag has been specifically designed to address high levels of burnout by ensuring that consultants taking on this extra work can get alternative time off.
“The NHS has been running on staff goodwill for a long time and it has to stop.”
Source: | This article originally belonged to Dailymail.co.uk
