Leading doctors have joined calls for the British Medical Association (BMA) to reconsider its strike plans as they warned resident doctors that walkouts could cause irreparable harm to public trust in the profession.
Lord Ara Darzi, a former health minister and surgeon, followed calls made by Professor Robert Winston, a Labour peer, who told the Times the “highly dangerous” walkout could damage the public’s trust in doctors.
Earlier this week, the BMA announced that resident doctors, formerly junior doctors, in England would walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on July 25, in a dispute over pay.
Lord Darzi, 65, told the Times: “Doctors have a special place in society. The public’s trust in doctors is earned, not guaranteed.
“I fear it will never recover if the BMA go ahead with strikes that are plainly unjustifiable.”
Meanwhile, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, who is set to leave his post as NHS England national medical director imminently, warned the BMA to “think really hard” about whether the industrial action is justified.
In his final interview before retiring, Sir Stephen, 64, told the newspaper the walkout would cause “tens of thousands of appointments and procedures” to be cancelled.
The pair’s calls echoed those made by Prof Winston, 84, who said he resigned from the BMA on Thursday.
In a statement on Friday, a BMA spokesman said it is “disappointing” when any of its 195,000 members resign, but said resident doctors are beginning their careers “more than 20% worse off in real terms than their counterparts in 2008”.
The spokesman added: “We’re sure that doctors who dedicated their lives to the health of the nation want to safeguard the profession and the NHS for the future. This means improving pay and conditions so that resident doctors stay in the health service and the UK to become expert clinical leaders, running entire services and innovating treatments.
“Doctors take their professional obligations incredibly seriously, and the decision to strike is not made lightly.
“But with nine out of 10 of our resident doctor members who voted backing industrial, it’s clear that there is support for doing what is necessary to fight to restore pay.
“Of course, no strikes have to happen, and no care needs to be disrupted, if the Health Secretary meets with us to discuss the ‘journey’ to pay restoration as he so often called it in opposition.”
