‘Doctors leaving Wales in their droves’ as BMA begins longest strike yet

Published

8 months ago

March 25, 2024

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Thousands of junior doctors in Wales have begun a four-day walkout – their longest yet – in a dispute over pay and working conditions.

A wet morning in Cardiff was not enough to dampen the resolve of the medics calling for their pay to be restored to previous levels.

At the heart of their calls is a warning that the NHS in Wales is losing medical professionals “in their droves”.

Co-chair of the British Medical Association’s Welsh junior doctors committee Dr Oba Babs-Osibodu also told Sky News that doctors were “refusing to come [to Wales], and that’s because of poor pay”.

“We’ve lost 29.6% of our pay over the last 15 years, so almost a third. And our work hasn’t got easier, it’s getting harder actually,” he said.

The Welsh government last year offered a pay rise of 5% but the union says the below-inflation offer is the worst in the UK.

More than 3,000 doctors are set to take industrial action during the 96-hour walkout, with appointments at hospitals and GPs set to be postponed across the country.

The strike started at 7am on Monday and will last until 7am on Friday.

‘Concerns about paying my bills’

Dr Lucy Hall is one of the junior doctors joining the protest outside the University Hospital of Wales – the largest of Wales’s hospitals.

She told Sky News that current salary levels were leaving her concerned about paying bills.

“Practically, it means that concerns about paying my bills are a bit too much at the forefront of my mind while I’m in work, but on top of that, we’re struggling to retain our staff,” she said.

“So doctors are leaving. We’re hemorrhaging them as such to other places where they can be paid more, or other professions where they can be paid more.”

Dr Hall said staff rotas were “underfilled” and had “lots of gaps”.

“That means that patient care does suffer as a result of that because you just haven’t got the people to do the job,” she added.

‘Doctors are exhausted’

Dr Deiniol Jones, a public health registrar at Public Health Wales, told Sky News that the situation in the Welsh NHS is “very challenging”.

“Doctors are exhausted. There are not enough doctors at the moment, doctors are leaving the whole time. And we can’t provide the level of care that we want. And that’s being driven by low pay and poor working conditions,” he said.

“I don’t feel very well-valued and I don’t feel that the pay really reflects the skills and the training that I have, and the difficulty of the work we undertake.”

Dr Jones added that those on strike would “much rather be working and helping our patients”.

“But we have to do something about the situation and the hope is that this forces the Welsh government to come back with a fair offer and once we get that fair offer we can stop striking.”

The message to new first minister Vaughan Gething from the BMA is that “this isn’t going to go away”.

“We’ve never been this united before, I’ve never seen the resolve of doctors this strong before,” Dr Babs-Osibodu added.

“And we’ll keep striking and striking and striking. We know this is costing the Welsh government millions of pounds, they need to come to the table with something credible.”

‘Disappointing’

Cabinet secretary for health and social care Eluned Morgan said it was “disappointing” that doctors in Wales were taking further industrial action.

Ms Morgan said the government understood “the strength of feeling about the 5% pay offer”.

“While we wish to address pay restoration ambitions, our offer is at the limits of the finances available to us at present and reflects the position reached with the other health unions for this year,” she added.

The Welsh health secretary also said the government would continue to press Westminster for extra funding.

But the Conservatives – the Senedd‘s largest opposition group – say the blame for the “unprecedented” strikes “lies squarely at the door” of the Welsh government.

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Coinbase CEO to meet with Trump to discuss personnel appointments — WSJ

Published

5 hours ago

November 18, 2024

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Coinbase CEO to meet with Trump to discuss personnel appointments — WSJ

Before US Election Day, Brian Armstrong said Coinbase was “prepared to work” with either a Kamala Harris or Donald Trump administration.

Politics

Row over how many farms will be affected by inheritance tax policy – as PM doubles down ahead of farmers protest

Published

6 hours ago

November 18, 2024

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Row over how many farms will be affected by inheritance tax policy - as PM doubles down ahead of farmers protest

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the “vast majority of farmers” will not be affected by changes to Inheritance Tax (IHT) ahead of a protest outside parliament on Tuesday.

It follows Chancellor Rachel Reeves announcing a 20% inheritance tax that will apply to farms worth more than £1m from April 2026, where they were previously exempt.

But the prime minister looked to quell fears as he resisted calls to change course.

Speaking from the G20 summit in Brazil, he said: “If you take a typical case of a couple wanting to pass a family farm down to one of their children, which would be a very typical example, with all of the thresholds in place, that’s £3m before any inheritance tax is paid.”

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The comments come as thousands of farmers, including celebrity farmer Jeremy Clarkson, are due to descend on Whitehall on Tuesday to protest the change.

And 1,800 more will take part in a “mass lobby” where members of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) will meet their MPs in parliament to urge them to ask Ms Reeves to reconsider the policy.

Speaking to broadcasters, Sir Keir insisted the government is supportive of farmers, pointing to a £5bn investment announced for them in the budget.

He said: “I’m confident that the vast majority of farms and farmers will not be affected at all by that aspect of the budget.

“They will be affected by the £5bn that we’re putting into farming. And I’m very happy to work with farmers on that.”

Sir Keir’s spokesman made a similar argument earlier on Monday, saying the government expects 73% of farms to not be affected by the change.

Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs Secretary Steve Reed said only about 500 out of the UK’s 209,000 farms would be affected, according to Treasury calculations.

However, that number has been questioned by several farming groups and the Conservatives.

Government figures ‘misleading’

The NFU said the real number is about two-thirds, with its president Tom Bradshaw calling the government’s figures “misleading” and accusing it of not understanding the sector.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said the policy could affect 70,000 farms.

Conservative shadow farming minister Robbie Moore accused the government last week of “regurgitating” figures that represent “past claimants of agricultural property relief, not combined with business property relief” because he said the Treasury does not have that data.

Agricultural property relief (APR) currently provides farmers 100% relief from paying inheritance tax on agricultural land or pasture used for rearing livestock or fish, and can include woodland and buildings, such as farmhouses, if they are necessary for that land to function.

Farmers can also claim business property relief (BPR), providing 50% or 100% relief on assets used by a trading business, which for farmers could include land, buildings, plant or machinery used by the business, farm shops and holiday cottages.

APR and BPR can often apply to the same asset, especially farmed land, but APR should be the priority, however BPR can be claimed in addition if APR does not cover the full value (e.g. if the land has development value above its agricultural value).

Mr Moore said the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Treasury have disagreed on how many farms will be impacted “by as much as 40%” due to the lack of data on farmers using BPR.

Lib Dem MP Tim Farron said last week1,400 farmers in Cumbria, where he is an MP, will be affected and will not be able to afford to pay the tax as many are on less than the minimum wage despite being asset rich.

Politics

Cabinet split over assisted dying as Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson latest to reveal she will vote against bill

Published

6 hours ago

November 18, 2024

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Cabinet split over assisted dying as Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson latest to reveal she will vote against bill

A split is emerging in the cabinet, with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson revealing she will join several of her colleagues and vote against the bill to legalise assisted dying.

Ms Phillipson told Sky News she will vote against the proposed legislation at the end of this month, which would give terminally ill people with six months to live the option to end their lives.

She voted against assisted dying in 2015 and said: “I haven’t changed my mind.

“I continue to think about this deeply. But my position hasn’t changed since 2015.”

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MPs will be given a free vote on the bill, so they will not be told how to vote by their party.

The topic has seen a split in the cabinet – however, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has yet to reveal how he will vote on 29 November.

Ms Phillipson joins some other big names who have publicly said they are voting against the bill

These include Deputy PM Angela Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.

Border security minister Angela Eagle is also voting against the bill.

Senior cabinet members voting in favour of assisted dying include Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Science Secretary Peter Kyle, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens.

The split over the issue is said to be causing friction within government, with Sir Keir rebuking the health secretary for repeatedly saying he is against the bill and for ordering officials to review the costs of implementing any changes in the law.

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates has been told Morgan McSweeney, the PM’s chief of staff, is concerned about the politics of the bill passing.

He is understood to be worried the issue will dominate the agenda next year and, while he is not taking a view on the bill, he can see it taking over the national conversation and distracting from core government priorities like the economy and borders.

Details of the bill were published last week and include people wanting to end their life having to self-administer the medicine.

It would only be allowed for terminally ill people who have been given six months to live.

Two independent doctors would have to confirm a patient is eligible for assisted dying and a High Court judge would have to give their approval before it could go ahead.