Senior doctors want up to £262 an hour to cover strike

Consultants successful England privation astatine slightest 3 times their basal wage to supply exigency screen for inferior doctors during this month's three-day walkout.

The demands person been described arsenic unreasonable by NHS bosses arsenic they effort to plug the gaps successful exigency care.

The British Medical Association (BMA) is recommending its members inquire for £158 an hr to enactment during the day, rising to £262 for nighttime shifts.

It said it was close to beryllium paid much for enactment extracurricular the mean contact.

Consultants gain betwixt £88,000 and £119,000 a twelvemonth successful basal wage - that works retired astatine the equivalent of astir £42 to £57 an hr successful a 40-hour week.

Although mean wage is £20,000 higher erstwhile other payments for performance, nighttime shifts and being connected telephone is included.

But during the onslaught the BMA has advised doctors to inquire for:

The BMA said the wage rates should beryllium utilized by immoderate advisor who is asked to determination from their mean speciality oregon by exigency attraction consultants who are asked to bash other shifts oregon fulfil roles usually done by inferior doctors.

About 40% of the aesculapian workforce is classed arsenic a inferior doc and two-thirds are thought to beryllium BMA members who volition beryllium asked to locomotion retired betwixt 06:00 GMT connected 13 and 06:00 connected 16 March crossed some planned and exigency attraction successful their wage dispute.

Junior doctors are calling for wage rises to marque up for cuts of 26% since 2008.

Danny Mortimer, the main enforcement of NHS Employers, said wellness bosses had sympathy for the plight of doctors, but that was being "eroded" by the unilateral demands being made for premium pay.

He said NHS bosses had not been consulted connected the rates, which are included successful the BMA authoritative complaint paper utilized for other hours beyond contracted work.

"If their quality is with the authorities with regards to some wage and pensions, it seems unreasonable to enactment without archetypal seeking immoderate benignant of statement with employers," helium added.

The complaint paper was archetypal introduced past year, the BMA said, aft immoderate NHS trusts tried to headdress the magnitude they were consenting to wage for overtime.

BMA consultants person Dr Vishal Sharma said it was close the complaint paper was utilized for the strikes.

"We wholeheartedly enactment and basal successful solidarity with our inferior doc colleagues successful their concern enactment and pursuit of afloat wage restoration.

"Consultants, having themselves experienced real-terms wage cuts, cognize each excessively good the damaging interaction wage erosion has connected morale and unit retention.

"On onslaught days it is the work of employers to guarantee that services are staffed safely, and they person been fixed capable announcement of erstwhile the enactment is acceptable to instrumentality place.

"The BMA complaint paper rates are recommended for each enactment undertaken extracurricular of the mean contract, and they are truthful due to usage for covering absent inferior doctors arsenic this enactment is rather intelligibly extra-contractual.

"These rates truthful bespeak the marketplace worth of doctors' work."