Rishi Sunak blames striking NHS medics with unrealistic wage demands for increasing waiting lists
- The number of people waiting has risen by 700,000 since he took power
- Last month junior doctors in England took part in longest strike in NHS history
Rishi Sunak has blamed swelling NHS waiting lists on strike action by medics.
The Prime Minister blamed industrial action by doctors and nurses for the fact that the number of people waiting has risen by 700,000 since he took power.
It came as he clashed with a junior doctor live on a radio phone-in, saying that they were being unrealistic with their pay demands.
Last month those in England took part in the longest strike in NHS history – five consecutive days – in pursuit of an inflation-busting 35 per cent pay rise. It followed months of walkouts by nurses and ambulance staff.
After LBC presenter Nick Ferrari said the waiting list was 7.2 million when Mr Sunak came into office, the Prime Minister added: ‘Yeah, and now it’s 7.9 (million) give or take.
‘But if you look at what happened Nick, I’ll just be totally honest with everybody, if you look at what happened we were actually making progress, we eliminated the number of two-year waiters – people waiting a really long time – we practically eliminated the number of people waiting one-and-a-half years, and we were making progress on bringing the overall numbers down.
‘What happened? We had industrial action, we’ve got strikes.’
The Prime Minister blamed industrial action by doctors and nurses for the fact that the number of people waiting has risen by 700,000 since he took power.
Last week those in England took part in the longest strike in NHS history – five consecutive days – in pursuit of an inflation-busting 35 per cent pay rise.
More than 700,000 NHS appointments have been cancelled since strikes began seven months ago. In the latest five-day walkout by junior doctors, more than 100,000 were called off
Last month’s strike saw tens of thousands of ops and appointments cancelled as a result of the British Medical Association (BMA) action, with A&E and cancer wards affected by the action.
His claim was given short shrift by a doctor working in accident and emergency.
Junior doctor Olivia from Newcastle told him during the call-in: ‘I think it’s amazing we’re blaming the increase in waiting lists on doctors going on strike, you’re losing staff because we are undervalued and it’s not just doctors, it’s everyone, we’re all leaving.
‘A happy workforce is your responsibility. You’re the Prime Minister, you’re the Government, your staff aren’t happy – that’s your fault.
‘And ultimately that’s not good for patients because retaining staff is one of the bedrocks of making sure you have good patient safety.’
Mr Sunak had argued junior doctors and consultants were to blame for not accepting pay deals: ‘That’s what’s causing the waiting lists to go up, I don’t think that’s right.
‘I would say to them I’m very grateful and respectful of the incredible job you do, but we all have a shared mission to bring the waiting lists down.’
Source: Read Full Article