James Steen

“Just a union rabble rouser”✊🏼| Head of @BMALondon | BMA-Officer-James on Reddit | London Irish ☘️| Chelsea fan | Dog person | Views my own

[James Steen @BMA_James_Steen]

For those in any doubt.

I am not a doctor.

I am indeed “just a union rabble rouser” who works for the BMA.

And I’m proud of it too.

✊🏼

[Dr Haseena Wazir @DrHWazir]

Same shift. Same ward. In London, other NHS staff can get up to £8,746 a year in London weighting. Doctors get £2,162. That’s £1 for every £4.

If London weighting is on your payslip, vote online until 12pm on 30 November, member or not.

Vote now: https://t.co/PHypWt95nS

[Dr Haseena Wazir @DrHWazir]

Doctors in London, your cost of living allowance hasn’t risen in over 20 years.

Other NHS staff on the ward can rightly receive up to £8,746 per year to cover the cost of living. You receive just £2,162.

Want your London weighing to increase? Vote now: https://t.co/PHypWt8xyk

[Dr Haseena Wazir @DrHWazir]

There's one thing London doctors get less of than anyone else on the ward: help
with the London cost of living.

Other NHS staff can get up to £8,746 a year. Doctors get £2,162, frozen since 2005. They deserve theirs. So do we.

Vote online by 30th Nov:
https://t.co/PHypWt95nS

[The BMA @TheBMA]

London doctors.: Join the campaign for fair London Weighting.

Vote in the indicative ballot today.

[Mike Henley 🤨 @trentconsultant]

Great interview with Andy Thornley, consultant cardiologist as to why we are in dispute with government and why strikes are organised.

[Mike Henley 🤨 @trentconsultant]

Average salaries of £150k plus extra for out of hours is wrong. The £150k is the full time average and includes all hours over 40, all the overtime, on call and additional lists within the NHS. Base salaries are £114k to £151k max compared with Irish figures of £215k to £275k for the same number of hours at base pay.

The expansion of medical school places policy actually said that medical school places should only increase as jobs increase at least in part due to the expense of training doctors who might not have jobs to go to. We have repeatedly called for proper workforce planning, there is still no NHS workforce plan.

About 15% of UK registered drs have taken hard steps to leave UK medicine according to the GMC, the most efficient Drs are typically the ones already here and the loss of talented UK graduates and IMGs is a great detriment to patients. Roughly 84% of potential immigrant Drs chose not to come to the UK due to poor pay, working conditions and quality of life https://t.co/LDcesAwoJd

The DDRB admitted that medical pay had fallen behind comparators and needed correcting but rather than fixing this it left it to ’negotiations’. The talks have been ongoing for 18 months fruitlessly and this action represents the failure of the DDRB to correct pay and government to take the situations seriously.

Even within the UK there are great disparities with the most senior consultants in Wales effectively earning £27k more per year for the same hours and roughly £1m more during the course of their lifetimes.

A large part of the dispute is about out of hours parts of the contract, the very fact that so much work is now done by consultants at the weekend and that is not properly recognised by the contract in terms of pay or recovery time, this work represents the very hardest work we do. The author seems to be taking about the NHS of the 1980s not the 2020s.

What isn't even mentioned is the erosion of SPA time, the very time used to fix and improve our departments and the efficiency of our services. This will never be done by people with spreadsheets in Whitehall but by the highly educated professionals actually doing the job.

[BMA London @BMALondon]

We don’t begrudge our hard working NHS colleagues their London Weighting allowance.

But London is no cheaper for doctors.

Doctors deserve parity to mitigate the higher cost of living and working in the capital.

Doctors in London, vote in our indicative ballot now 👇🏼

[James Steen @BMA_James_Steen]

📣 UNION JOB POSTING 📣

Are you an experienced organising trade unionist in London?

Do you want to help organise doctors to build power and improve their pay, terms and conditions?

If so, apply to join my @BMALondon team here!👇🏼

https://t.co/HOATFvoHKn

[Mike Henley 🤨 @trentconsultant]

Our campaign is about reducing burnout, returning the time we had to actually fix our services and regaining comparable pay. Here's me explaining on GBNews. #DemandBetter

[James Steen @BMA_James_Steen]

@OrugbycraD I’m not in the negs team for CC, so can’t comment on what’s going on in the room, and even if I were, it’s unlikely I’d be free to comment on the talks either.

But we’ve been in negs for 18 months and had a strike mandate since July, so we’ve not rushed to strikes by any means.

[James Steen @BMA_James_Steen]

Schrödinger’s doctors:

Simultaneously far too important to strike, and utterly unworthy of being paid and treated fairly.

Oh, remind us what happened when your lot banned prison officers from striking?

Ah yes, a crippling and perpetual staffing crisis and exodus of experience.

[Conservatives @Conservatives]

Labour promised to end the strikes. Once again, they’ve failed.

Kemi Badenoch is clear that doctors, like the police, should be banned from striking. Patients must come first.

[Nikos Manetas @ManetasNikolaos]

No pizza left! 🍕Consultants, SAS and residents came together today at ChelWest Hospital to discuss London weighting.

Doctors are calling for parity. London weighting hasn’t changed since 2005, but our bills have!

🗳️ Vote in the ballot: https://t.co/azKstupvFv

@BMALondon

[Sandip Patel @SandipP61970438]

Enough is enough

See you on the picket line

[The BMA @TheBMA]

Consultants don’t want to strike, but after 18 months without formal negotiations, they cannot wait any longer.

These strikes are planned to take place on 25 and 26 November, with Christmas Day levels of cover provided. There is still time for the Government to make progress.

[Dr Aadam Aziz @Aadam_Aziz]

We're asking for parity with other NHS staff, not special treatment.

The cost of working in London has risen. London Weighting hasn't.

London doctors, please vote in the indicative ballot and help us secure fair London Weighting for doctors.

https://t.co/1Qc4pYplTV

[Dr Haseena Wazir @DrHWazir]

London weighting for doctors hasn't changed since 2005. Time to fix that.

Our campaign events start today at St Thomas' Hospital, led by your London reps and BMA staff. Come and say hello.

Check your emails and vote yes in the indicative ballot by November 30th!

[James Steen @BMA_James_Steen]

Your @BMALondon calls London NHS employers to come to the negotiating table.

There would be no need for escalation on doctors’ London Weighting, if we can agree a solution early.

[BMA London @BMALondon]

Doctors’ London Weighting has been frozen since 2005. Enough is enough.

Today, BMA London has written to NHS London’s Regional Director calling for employers across the capital to come to the negotiating table.

If you work in London, vote in our indicative ballot below 👇🏼

[BMA London @BMALondon]

Doctors’ London Weighting has been frozen since 2005. Enough is enough.

Today, BMA London has written to NHS London’s Regional Director calling for employers across the capital to come to the negotiating table.

If you work in London, vote in our indicative ballot below 👇🏼

[🇺🇦 Dr Kevin O'Kane 🇺🇦 @DrOKaneAgain]

The Health Secretary is welcome to tell us which patients we should send home earlier.

She can come on my ward round any time.

@YvetteCooperMP

[James Steen @BMA_James_Steen]

If you cut what you’re offering to pay NHS staff to do extra work, they’re more likely not to do the extra work you need to get done.

It ain’t rocket science.

[Health Service Journal @HSJnews]

Chemo delays blamed on bank pay cuts https://t.co/FNCLpHa3DA