Striking GPs need a reality check

GPs have voted to strike if some contract changes, including forcing practices to open on Saturdays, are not withdrawn. The doctor proposing the motion at the British Medical Association’s annual conference in Brighton urged her fellow medics to ‘channel our inner Mick Lynch‘. This analogy – and the meeting’s decision in favour of industrial action – tells us everything we need to know about the political leanings of the BMA who ought to be unbiased. It was particularly distasteful to invoke a comparison with the RMT’s rail strike which caused travel chaos and distress last week for NHS staff and their patients, among other innocent casualties.

The main quarrel of the meeting was the demand by NHS England that GPs should provide a full service on Saturdays from 1 October. Clearly the intention of these extended hours is to offer patients greater access to GPs. Difficulty in obtaining face-to-face appointments with a doctor has been the commonest complaint from patients, especially during the pandemic.