While there are no major industrial disputes taking place at present, all is not quiet on the health front under the new Health Secretary, who must still be seething from her recent demotion from the grander post of Foreign Secretary.

Back in March the 14 NHS unions demanded that health secretary Wes Streeting improve both the 3.3 per cent rise and the Agenda for Change (AfC) pay structure. Long promised talks have only just started – largely because of the recent ministerial churn.

The unions warn that without a realistic pay rise many health service workers will leave the NHS, either for the private sector or sunnier climes. They point out to the Burnham government that “your 10-year plan aspires to make the NHS ‘the country’s best employer’. NHS staff now call on you to take the first step: recognise the problems with NHS pay and provide sufficient funding.”

At the top of the scale the British Medical Association notes that since their consultant members voted 76 per cent for industrial action “the Government has cycled through three health secretaries”. The Prime Minister “has rightly diagnosed [the NHS] as being on the brink of collapse. As they scramble around for a solution, they ignore the views and feelings of the tens of thousands of doctors keeping the system running at their peril.”

This means they want a pay rise to keep the most senior and expert doctors working in hospitals, without whom the NHS would collapse. They complain that no action has been taken to discuss their demands, warning that their mandate for industrial action could easily be implemented.

Slightly further down the NHS food chain, a ballot in favour of industrial action of specialist, associate specialist and specialty doctors in England  saw them vote by 90 per cent for action but failed to meet the existing 50 per cent turnout threshold.

All are furious at the Government’s decision to endorse a 3.5 per cent pay rise for 2026/27 recommended by the Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body as it does not compensate for their real pay declining in value by a quarter since 2008.

by New Worker correspondent