I’m at the BMA’s Annual Representatives Meeting in sunny Brighton. It’s a beautiful day and there’s a stunning view over the beach and the pier from the press room.
However, the 500 or so faithful members who’ve turned up are dutifully sat downstairs in a rather gloomy conference hall.
From my elevated position above the promenade I can see the odd one making a break for the beach but they’re being surprisingly dedicated to the cause.
That’s probably because there’s much to discuss - not least the threats to doctors’ pay and terms and conditions. As you’ll be aware, last week, Chancellor George Osborne pledged to freeze public sector pay for the next two years in his emergency budget.
Dr Hamish Meldrum, chair of BMA council, gave his big speech earlier. A key theme was the new spirit of cooperation between the coalition government and the union. He agreed with the government’s decision-making on the revalidation postponement, on seeking to reduce bureaucracy, cutting waste, streamlining management, and saying they want to put doctors in control.
However, while promising to be “reasonable and responsible in our pay demands”, he warned that doctors would “not be made the scapegoats for failures of speculators and marketers”.
In a direct message to the government Meldrum said “don’t underestimate us when it comes to protecting doctors’ jobs and pensions. On these, I will not be reasonable if, being reasonable means accepting cuts in the number of doctors or reneging on the recently agreed, revised pension arrangements for staff”.
He pointed to BMA research which suggests cuts are already being made to staffing numbers round the country. He described this as “madness”.
Rumours abound that doctors’ pensions are going to suffer following Osborne’s claim that public sector pensions will be reformed. One rumour is that doctors will have to pay a large one-off levy - in the region of £20,000 - next year to maintain their pension benefits.
It’s widely believed that the government will put back retirement age to 66 by 2016.
The BMA, however, feels that the NHS pension is in better shape than others within the public sector, such as the civil service and military. They claim doctors contribute more and retire later, and the NHS scheme should provide the model for other public pension schemes to follow.
Meldrum said: “Only two years ago, we reached agreement which raised the age of retirement to 65, capped the contributions of the government, increased contributions by the higher paid and put the NHS scheme on a sensible and affordable footing for the future.
“I am not someone who easily resorts to threats, but I warn the government - in a spirit of cooperation and being helpful - if you really want a crisis in the NHS, start meddling with the NHS pension scheme.”
I knew the love-in with the coalition government wouldn’t last long.
Tags: Pensions
