GPs threaten all-out strike action amid row over NI increase
GPs could go on an all out strike, with a vote planned on whether to ramp up industrial action amid a row over the Chancellor’s National Insurance (NI) increase.
Family doctors across the country embarked on “work to rule” measures in August, with many capping the number of patients they see.
The British Medical Association said the measures were designed to bring the NHS “to a standstill”, insisting the protests were aimed at policymakers not patients.
Local committees of doctors have now drawn up proposals “to ballot the profession for more significant industrial action”.
It comes following fury from GPs whose practices face higher National Insurance payments from April, following the Budget.
Some practices say the Chancellor’s measures, combined with the increase in the national living wage could cost a practice as much as £140,000 – the equivalent of five nurses.
Strike measures have not been spelt out, but polling of GPs in August found 50 per cent were willing to escalate collective action, which could potentially involve full strike action, closing all services for a period of time.
The chair of the Local Medical Committees (LMCs) – which represents grassroots GPs – has drawn up the motion, which will go to a vote later this month, expressing concern that current measures are not having “enough impact”.
Since August, family GPs have been told to “pick and choose” from up to nine protest measures – including cutting the number of appointments to 25.
However, some questioned whether patients would even notice the difference, given widespread difficulties accessing GP care.
This week research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats found that more than 5 million people tried to contact their GP in the past month but failed to get through on the day they called.
The British Medical Association is due to start negotiations on the GP contract for 2025/26 shortly.
The current collective action is a protest against this year’s contract – which was imposed upon GPs – and gave a funding boost of 7.6 per cent.
The Government last week said “tough decisions” had been taken to allow a £22 billion boost for health and social care, saying further details on the allocation of funding would be set out in due course.
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, has repeatedly urged GPs not to “punish patients” by taking part in the work to rule measures, which also include abandoning modern systems used to refer patients to hospital.
Last month he told the Royal College of GPs conference in Liverpool that he understood why doctors “wanted to give the previous government a kicking”.
But he asked them not to “shut your doors to patients” and instead “work with us to rebuild the NHS together”.
The national LMCs conference will debate a motion which calls on the GP Committee for England “to ballot the profession for more significant industrial action”.
The motion applauds the current BMA campaign encouraging GPs to take part in collective action, but expresses concern that this “is not having enough impact to drive the changes needed to ensure the survival of general practice”.
Polling of 283 surgeries across in August found widespread participation in protest measures.
Credit: BBC Question Time
Half of the practices said they would be willing to escalate collective action, which could potentially involve full strike action, closing all services for a period of time.
Discussing the rise in NI, Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman, said: “It’s hard to believe that [the] decision... can have been properly thought through before the Budget was delivered last Wednesday.
“A local GP got in touch with me over the weekend to say this decision will serve to directly undermine access and patient care at a time when practices are already under strain due to years of neglect. Another said it will kill the family doctor.
“And why will it kill the family doctor? It’s because GP practices aren’t eligible for employment allowance, they can’t put up their prices and their only option is to cut staff and services, and that would be a disaster.”
Mr Streeting declined to give an answer when pressed on whether hospices, care homes and other primary care providers would be exempt from the increase.
But insisting he was “well aware” of the pressures it would create, he said: “We haven’t made allocations for the year ahead and I will take those representations seriously.
“It’s also a chance for me to ask the party opposite, do they support the investment or not? Are they choosing to invest in the NHS or not?
“If they oppose the investment, they have to tell us where they would make the cuts in the NHS... Those are the choices we made and I stand by those choices, the opposition will have to set out their choices too.”
‘The NHS is broken’
Ed Argar, the Conservatives’ new shadow health secretary, said he was “disappointed” Mr Streeting could not confirm that GP practices and care homes would not be exempt.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The NHS is broken, and the Secretary of State has been clear he wants to work with doctors to get it back on its feet so it works for patients and staff. We have taken tough decisions to fix the foundations so a £22 billion boost for the NHS and social care could be announced at the Budget.
“This government is committed to recruiting over 1,000 newly-qualified GPs by cutting red tape, so patients can get the care they need, and NHS England is working to address training delays to ensure the health service has enough staff for the future.”