The doctors' union is warning that new rates of pay being imposed unilaterally across the four trusts - Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust - represent ‘significant and unacceptable' cuts to pay across all grades of doctors, including consultants, SAS doctors, and resident doctors.
The union has condemned the decision, which it says has been taken ‘without any meaningful consultation or negotiation' with BMA representatives.
At a meeting held by the BMA on 24 September, attended by hundreds of doctors impacted, many warned that if the trusts do not urgently withdraw the imposition, many will be left with no choice but to refuse extra contractual work at the reduced rates, which will have a ‘direct impact' on the safe delivery of patient care.
The BMA is calling on each of the four trusts to immediately withdraw their plans to impose these reduced rates and says it is open to negotiations to end this dispute.
Dr Rinesh Parmar, BMA West Midlands regional consultants committee chair, said: ‘There is a clear sense of anger among doctors who feel they have been blindsided by these new rates that are being imposed, without any meaningful negotiation.
‘As well as the frustration felt among doctors, this is also incredibly concerning for patient care as a reduction in rates will only discourage doctors from picking up any additional work that they ordinarily would.
‘We urge the trusts to urgently withdraw this imposition to avoid damaging morale beyond repair and to avoid any potential disruption to patient care.'
Dr Erin Gourley, BMA West Midlands regional resident doctors committee co-chair, added: ‘The imposition of these new rates will ultimately mean a cut in pay in extra-contractual work for many and is a real betrayal of hard-working resident doctors in the Black Country. This will clearly disincentivise doctors from taking up additional shifts and the trusts must carefully consider their actions given the groundswell of discontent from doctors.'
In response, Jonathan Odum, medical director for the Black Country Provider Collaborative, said: ‘We are committed to ensuring fair and transparent arrangements for medical staff working temporary clinical shifts. We recognise the importance of this issue to our workforce and will be engaging further with our local negotiating committees over the coming weeks to better understand the concerns of their members.
‘Our priority is the responsible use of public funds while ensuring high-quality patient care and supporting flexible staffing where it is most needed.'
He added: ‘We are writing to the BMA to indicate our intention to hold a consultation on this matter, as such no decision has yet been made to enact any changes to the bank shift rates for our medical workforce.'
