Health Secretary Steve Barclay criticises junior doctors for ‘walking away’ from talks ahead of strike
Health Secretary Steve Barclay has criticised junior doctors, accusing them of “walking away” from talks over pay and conditions.
The British Medical Association (BMA) – the union representing many from the profession – has called a five-day strike in July and is demanding a rise of 35% to restore their wages to 2008 levels.
It has also accused the government of refusing to get around the table to negotiate a deal.
But Mr Barclay told Sky News that junior doctors had “refused to move” during three weeks of talks earlier this year, adding: “It was the junior doctors sadly who walked away from the discussions and called a further strike.”
Politics live: Striking doctors ‘walked away’ from talks, says Barclay
Junior doctors went on strike for three days in June, following a four-day walk-out in April and three days in March.
The BMA claims pay has decreased by more than a quarter since 2008 when inflation was taken into account, so the 5% offer on the table was far below what was needed.
And it said many doctors were burnt out from an increasing workload.
But Mr Barclay said the 35% pay restoration demand was not “affordable in the context of inflation and the other pressures” on the economy.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, the health secretary said the upcoming strikes were “hugely concerning”, with thousands of appointments and pre-planned operations set to be disrupted.
But he put the blame at the door of junior doctors and the BMA, saying they were the ones refusing to negotiate.
“We have [talked to them], we had three weeks of talks… the department agreed to bring in an intermediary,” he said. “But not withstanding [the intermediary’s] excellent work, the discussions that we had with the junior doctors to date, they have refused to move from a 35% demand.
“I don’t think that in the context of the wider economy, [with] the need to get inflation down, that is a fair demand.”
Mr Barclay conceded that “both sides need to move” to reach an agreement, and claimed the government was “willing to do so”.
But he said that without the strikes being called off, there was little room for negotiation.
“We have been consistent, not just in health but in all departments, that if people suspend the strikes then we can get round the table and have talks, but at the moment the junior doctors have walked away from the talks,” said the health secretary.
“We were in middle of discussions with them. There were a range of other factors that they have raised with me in terms of annual leave that is often cancelled at short notice, rotas that are changed, some of the wellbeing issues around circumstances in hospitals.
“We are happy to discuss [those issues].”
Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, dismissed Mr Barclay’s criticism, saying: “We have always been willing to continue talking.
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“It was the government who cancelled our remaining meetings after we called for strike action, but we have made it clear that we will call strikes off if [Rishi] Sunak makes a credible offer.
“A 5% offer, when inflation is in double digits is yet another real terms pay cut, and would only worsen the already 26% real terms pay cut we’ve endured prior that.”
Pay review proposals
Sophy Ridge also quizzed Mr Barclay on whether the government would accept recommendations from public sector pay review bodies for wages rises next year after speculation Prime Minister Rishi Sunak planned to block them in an attempt to tackle inflation.
Pay review bodies – or PRBs – take evidence from across sectors like the NHS and education each year, as well as submissions from government, before saying what wage rises should be introduced for the following 12 months – and they are expected to say healthcare staff should have a 6% uplift.
Amid anger from unions about the figures failing to match inflation last year, the health secretary insisted it was right for ministers to “continue to defer to that process to ensure decisions balance the needs of staff and the wider economy”.
Read more:
Junior doctors to strike ‘in longest single walkout in NHS history’
Nurses’ strikes in England to end – as union boss vows ‘fight for fair pay is far from over’
But this morning, he refused to confirm if ministers would accept the PRB proposals, instead they would look at them “in the round”.
The BMA’s Dr Trivedi accused Mr Barclay of “negotiating in bad faith” and said the government had “totally discredited the supposed independence of the pay review body”.
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson was also asked by Sophy Ridge if Labour would accept PRB recommendations if it was in power – with a 6.5% expected bump for teachers.
However, she would not commit to the figure either, saying it was a “complicated” issue due to the Conservatives “crashing the economy”.
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‘Would you accept a 6.5% pay rise for teachers?’
“I would see that as the starting point for negotiation,” she said. “We can’t get anywhere unless we’re prepared to negotiate.
“I’m not going to come on this programme and commit to a figure, I wouldn’t expect the secretary of state to do that either, that is what will happen during the course of a negotiation.”
A mother from Wrexham has been awarded more than half a million pounds in damages for injuries she suffered during childbirth.
Maternity services make up more negligence claims and payments than any other hospital department – and campaigners say it reflects underfunding and overworked staff.
It took Amy Stead, 37, nearly three years to fall pregnant, but childbirth left her with injuries that will last a lifetime.
During her labour in 2019, she suffered a tear so severe it left her with a permanent stoma. What is worse, it was not spotted soon enough.
“It turned out that I had a hole between my vagina and rectum, but it had been completely missed,” Ms Stead said.
She said her obstetrician was “in such a rush to leave” that she missed the injury.
She added: “Had she taken more time and care over what she was doing… she may have seen it, and they could have put me to sleep and repaired it properly.”
Amy says her injury might have been spotted if the obstetrician wasn’t so rushed
Ms Stead suffered from PTSD and was in pain for a year after her son was born.
“It felt like all the joy had been sucked out of having my first baby,” she said.
She decided to sue her hospital, an incredibly difficult decision as it was where she worked. After a five-year litigation, she has now been awarded £575,000 in damages.
Figures for England for 2022/2023 show maternity services made up 13% of clinical negligence claims, more than any other department.
Last year, the NHS spent £1.1bn on maternity negligence payments. To put this in context, the budget for maternity services in England is £3bn.
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Amy says it made her feel like the joy of having her first baby was overshadowed
Litigation lawyers say damages are often high because of the physical and psychological impact the injuries have.
Ruth Powell, head of clinical negligence at the law firm Hugh James, says litigation is “gruelling” for people, with a “really high bar” to prove a claim.
Many mothers never seek legal advice.
“Middle class, white women who have the confidence and the background to challenge things, it’s much easier for them,” said Ms Powell.
“There’s a massive number of women, perhaps English isn’t their first language… they don’t talk to anybody about it.”
Campaigners are calling for change.
Rachel McGrath says maternity services are dealing with ‘massive underfunding and staffing issues’
Chair of the Birth Trauma Association, Rachael McGrath, was awarded damages after her twins were born.
She blames “massive underfunding and staffing issues” for the high levels of litigation.
“Why is it easier to pay out on maternity litigation than invest from the bottom up?” asked Ms McGrath.
“We are looking at staff, a workforce, who are compassion-fatigued because they are not supported appropriately in their roles and that is leading to trauma and an unsafe system.”
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A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said: “We’re committed to ensuring all women receive safe and compassionate care from maternity services and we’ve made progress in improving outcomes.
“We are determined to further improve maternity services. That’s why it is prioritised in our Women’s Health Strategy 2024.“
Ms Stead is relieved her litigation is over and hopes sharing her story will help other mums suffering from birth trauma.
“No amount of money can change that or make that better, but it certainly helps,” she said.
“But you shouldn’t have to go through that to have children, it’s not normal.”
People are having to play “pharmacy bingo” – going from shop to shop to find stocks – as medicine shortages are worsening, experts have said.
Health leaders say some patients are even having to “ration” their drugs, with a new poll suggesting shortages are a “daily occurrence” for many of England’s pharmacies.
Treatments for ADHD, diabetes and epilepsy are among those affected this year, according to trade body Community Pharmacy England.
Its survey of more than 6,000 pharmacies and 2,000 staff found shortages are “wreaking havoc” on patients.
Nearly all (97%) of staff said patients were being inconvenienced, while 79% said health was being put at risk.
Some 98% said they were also giving out more “I owe yous” – where they can only fulfil part of the prescription.
Nearly all (99%) pharmacies reported supply problems at least weekly, and 72% said they were having “multiple issues a day”.
Another survey last month, by the Nuffield Trust thinktank, said drug shortages had more than doubled between 2020 and 2023 and that Brexit was likely to “significantly weaken” the UK’s ability to deal with the issues.
Shortages have also been a growing problem in Europe and the US in recent years.
However, the UK leaving EU supply chains is said to have added complications such as custom checks at borders and drug makers facing extra regulation.
Nearly all pharmacies reported problems at least weekly and 72% were having multiple issues a day
The falling value of the pound after Brexit has also made it more expensive for the NHS to buy medicines.
Community Pharmacy England boss Janet Morrison said the supply problems were “beyond critical” and had become an “ongoing battle” for pharmacies.
“Patients with a wide range of clinical and therapeutic needs are being affected on a daily basis and this is going far beyond inconvenience, leading to frustration, anxiety and affecting their health,” she added.
“For some patients, not having access to the medicines they need could lead to very serious consequences, even leaving them needing to visit A&E.”
Ms Morrison said the survey was “yet another stark warning which must not be ignored”.
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William Pett from Healthwatch England called it an “ongoing issue that continues to wreak havoc on patients”.
“Healthwatch England hears about how shortages can lead to rationing and desperate instances of ‘pharmacy bingo’, where patients must travel from pharmacy to pharmacy looking for stock,” he said.
Paul Rees, head of the National Pharmacy Association, urged the government “to sort out the UK’s fragile medicines supply system, so that pharmacies can do their job and patients can get their lifesaving medicines in time”.
The Department of Health and Social Care is yet to comment.
A British girl has had her hearing restored after becoming the first person worldwide to take part in a pioneering new gene therapy trial.
Opal Sandy was born totally deaf due to auditory neuropathy, which disrupts nerve impulses from the inner ear to the brain.
But the 18-month-old’s hearing is now almost normal – and could improve further – after having the one-time treatment.
Opal was treated at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and the head of the trial, Professor Manohar Bance, said results were “better than I hoped or expected” and he hopes medics might be able to cure others with this type of deafness.
“We have results from (Opal) which are very spectacular – so close to normal hearing restoration. So we do hope it could be a potential cure,” he said.
Opal (second left) with her parents and sister Nora, who has the same condition. Pic: PA
Auditory neuropathy can be caused by a fault in the OTOF gene, which makes a protein called otoferlin and enables cells in the ear to communicate with the hearing nerve.
Opal, from Oxfordshire, had an infusion of the working gene into her right ear during surgery in September – the treatment developed by biotech firm Regeneron.
Her parents noticed changes in only four weeks and the improvements were especially noticeable 24 weeks later.
Jo and James Sandy, both 33, said they were “gobsmacked” when she responded to sound tests at home without her cochlear implant, the usual way to treat the condition.
Opal had her operation in September. Pic: Cambridge University NHS Trust
“I thought it was a fluke or like a change in light or something that had caught her eye, but I repeated it a few times,” said Mrs Sandy.
They say she now enjoys the sound of slamming her cutlery on the table and playing with toy drums and wooden blocks.
“We were told she had near normal hearing last time,” she added. “I think they got responses at sort of 25 to 30 decibels.
“I think normal hearing is classed at 20 decibels, so she’s not far off. Before, she had no hearing whatsoever.”
Opal’s surgery was very similar to fitting a cochlear implant, according to Prof Bance.
He said the inner ear (cochlea) was opened and the treatment infused using a catheter over 16 minutes.
“We have to make a release hole in another part of the ear to let the treatment out because it has to go all the way through the ear,” he said.
“And then we just repair and close up, so it’s actually a very similar approach to a cochlear implant, except we don’t put the implant in.”
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Experts say it could mark a ‘new era’ in treating deafness. Pic: PA
He said the gene therapy potentially “marks a new era in the treatment for deafness”.
“It was just the fact that we’ve been hearing about this for so long, and there’s been so much work, decades of work… to finally see something that actually worked in humans… It was quite spectacular and a bit awe-inspiring really,” he said.
The treatment was developed especially for children with OTOF mutations, and a second child who has had the same surgery is also seeing positive results.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The trial has three parts – with three deaf children, including Opal, getting a low dose in just one ear.
Another three children will get a high dose on one side. Then, if safe, a new set of children will get a dose in both ears at the same time.
Up to 18 people from the UK, US and Spain are being recruited and will be followed up for five years.
Results of the study were presented on Wednesday to the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy conference in Baltimore.
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