Family doctors in England’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS) will initiate industrial action on Thursday after an overwhelming vote in favor of the move,
driven by disputes over funding and contract changes.
The British Medical Association (BMA) reported that over 8,500 General Practitioners (GPs) participated in the ballot, with 98.3% supporting collective action, set to begin immediately.
This industrial action will involve doctors ceasing work they are not contractually obligated to perform and actions such as withdrawing from patient data sharing agreements. The NHS indicated that this could include GPs limiting the number of patient appointments per day.
Thursday’s vote marks the first time in 60 years that GPs have engaged in their own industrial action. The last instance of GPs participating in industrial action was part of a broader doctors' strike in 2012.
“GPs are at the end of their tether. This is an act of desperation. For too long, we’ve been unable to provide the care we want to. We are witnessing general practice being broken,” said Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of BMA’s GP committee for England. “The era of the family doctor has been wiped out by recent consecutive governments, and our patients are suffering.”
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, expressed disappointment over the decision.
Change of Government
The ballot for action occurred before a July election, which saw the Conservative Party lose power after 14 years.
On Thursday, the new Labour government announced plans to grant doctors’ surgeries greater autonomy in hiring additional staff to recruit over 1,000 newly-qualified GPs this year—a change long sought by the profession.
Health Minister Wes Streeting stated that an extra 82 million pounds ($105 million) would be allocated to hire these GPs by redistributing funds within his department.
“I can understand why GPs wanted to punish the previous government. But taking collective action will only punish patients,” he wrote in the Telegraph newspaper before the ballot results were announced. “I want to reset the relationship between GPs and their government.”
Earlier this week, the government accepted an independent body’s recommendation to increase GP pay by 6%, but the BMA stated this measure was insufficient.
The BMA acknowledged that Labour had “inherited a broken NHS” and had had some positive discussions with Streeting but felt compelled to proceed with the action.
“This will not be a ‘big bang’. It will be a slow burn. It’s likely that impact may not be felt for some time. We hope this will give the new government time to consider our proposed solutions, including fixing our contract once and for all,” Bramall-Stainer said.