Consultants – It is time to put patients first!

Steve Barclay, the former Health Secretary

These were the words of Steve Barclay, the former Health Secretary. Ironically, many NHS consultants are of the opinion that the government's inaction on pay is to the detriment of patients.

We used to clap for NHS staff every Thursday as they cared for Covid patients. This showed that we understood the strain and stress of caring for these very sick patients. It now seems that the clapping was just a substitute for the pay rises that were promised by the government during the austerity cuts.

NHS consultants are better paid than most, although a starting salary of £88,364 is about the same as that of an MP. After 19 years a consultant will be earning £119,133 - if they last that long. In my experience, 19 years as a full-time NHS consultant is a very long time.

So why do consultants deserve more?

- Salaries have fallen by around 30% in recent years, and nobody ever thought consultants were overpaid.

- Workload has increased as demand has risen;

- waiting lists which had doubled before Covid are now even longer.

Consultants are dealing with yesterday's cancellations while working today. It's impossible.

- Junior doctors are overworked. Posts remain vacant because of stress, illness, disillusionment and a desire to work in a more supportive environment.

- Staff shortages and gaps in the rota mean that consultants are unable to provide a level of care that meets their own minimum standards.

- If you raise concerns as a consultant, you are marginalised, threatened with disciplinary action and, in some cases, dismissed.

- Finally, NHS managers are encouraged to meet targets rather than clinical priorities and intervene through the imposition of quotas which have no correlation with clinical need.

Being a consultant has always been stressful; life and death decisions are routine and pay has always reflected this. It would be normal for consultants to cope with all this if they felt valued and supported, but many of my colleagues feel neither. Steve Barclay says that he has been 'listening to the independent pay review body' to which the government provides data on 'affordability'. Reasonable pay rises in excess of 5% are apparently 'not affordable', even if they are phased in over a number of years. Yet during Covid, these same advisers saw billions of pounds thrown at PPE contracts, large under-used Nightingale hospitals and a laughably ineffective Test and Trace service. It would seem that if the will is there, the money will be found as well.

It is no wonder that NHS consultants are on strike. But be aware that it is not because they are failing to 'put patients first'. It is because they believe that the current state of the NHS is harming patients.

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Abi Bacon

Southampton based Squarespace developer

https://www.abibacon.com/
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