Scottish consultants: time to make our voice heard

It’s clear that the mood amongst consultants in Scotland has been evolving over the past few months.

I believe, speaking in generalities of course, levels of frustration have been gradually rising and have now reached a stage of real anger and a desire to finally see action on our pay.

In the session for grassroots members we held on pay a few weeks ago, colleagues across Scotland were understandably impatient for action. That was mirrored when the Scottish Consultants Committee met earlier this week.

In short, the mood in both meetings made it clear that now is the time for action.

So, let me explain why I believe there has been this shift in mood – what we have done as a result, and the Scottish Government’s immediate response.

For a while, we have (and indeed continue to be) in correspondence and discussions with the current Cabinet Secretary and his predecessors. Our main ask has been to begin direct pay negotiations. This is different to previous years, as the committee has decided to opt out of the pay review body process, which has singularly failed to deliver for consultants, hence the 30% real terms decline in our pay.

The main reason given by the Cabinet Secretary for the delay in these negotiations beginning, was that he was waiting for a ‘pay metric’: essentially the public sector pay policy. That has now been published for around a week. Yet, at the time of our committee meeting there still had been no date for pay negotiations to begin.

Things have also changed elsewhere in the UK while we have been waiting for progress from Scottish Government. There has now been additional investment into a significant pay offer in Wales, which is currently being considered by members there. Should this be accepted, as a deal already has been in England, this would mean (and contrary to the Cabinet Secretary’s publicly stated aspirations) that consultants in Scotland would be the worst-paid and highest-taxed in Britain.

Throughout the past year we have done our best to work collaboratively and have given the Scottish Government every opportunity to enter pay talks. The failure to deliver on the Government’s behalf is no doubt why when the committee met there was a palpable sense of frustration (reflecting the views of grassroots members) at the complete lack of progress.

And it is why the committee unanimously agreed that we now regard ourselves to be in formal dispute with Scottish Government over their approach to consultant pay and are now immediately ramping up preparations to proceed to a ballot on industrial action. I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary to that effect straight after the meeting.

A response was received within hours – offering a one-to-one meeting between myself and the Cabinet Secretary at the end of the month, with a date for pay talks to commence in mid-August.

It is frustrating that they can respond quickly when they want to, but equally that the date for pay talks is still some time away. It feels like more delays and I can imagine members will share my feeling that this simply isn’t soon enough.

On that basis, we do not propose revisiting our decisions made at committee and it remains both sensible and necessary to expedite our ballot preparations. I will be making these points when I meet with the Cabinet Secretary before the end of June and will push for an accelerated timetable.

We have of course, been moving in this direction for some time, and a lot of the groundwork for any potential ballot has begun. But yesterday’s decision means we are taking the practical steps that we need to make it possible – which we couldn’t do without committee approval.

For example, that includes seeking formal approval for a ballot in line with BMA rules and procedures, and making sure we have all the guidance and support for members we need in place to help you both make an informed choice on the question we will put on a ballot and understand what will be asked of you if we do strike. I believe this signal of intent will only strengthen our hand in talks and allow us to act quickly and be fleet of foot should we need to.

We also, and this is the crucial part, need you – consultants across Scotland – to act at this pivotal moment. I know even considering strike action is a big step and there will be those out there who are unsure and indeed concerned. But I would urge you all to get involved and help your union on this journey.

There are 4 key things that we need you to do:

1. First AND MOST IMPORTANTLY – check and update the details we hold for you. I know this can seem tedious and feel unnecessary when you may not have moved or changed employer in years, however there are incredibly strict legal requirements around any industrial action ballot.  These mean we need to have your data (including both place of work and home postal address) up to date and to able to reach you to communicate effectively.  We also need to be able to show that we have done all we can to make that happen. I promise it takes just five minutes and there is an easy how-to guide here, which crucially shows how to let us know that your data is correct, even if it doesn’t need updated. This is one of the key parts of our preparations to ensure we can run a successful ballot and it is something that we need to devote the necessary time to.
2. We also need you to get involved. Please join us, if you aren’t already a member. If you are, sign up to be a pay activist and help us get the news and information out to all members in your networks. You can do that here. If you want to do your bit locally – contact your local LNC – all the details are here.
3. Watch and share the presentation myself and my deputy chairs gave on pay at our recent consultant event. It lets you know how we got here, what our dispute is about and again, how you can get involved.
4. Finally, please USE THE BMA RATE CARD. It is a key way to demonstrate your value and know your worth. All the details are in the presentation or can be found here. Please don’t take on extra non-contractual work without consulting it and ensuring you value yourself properly.

This is an important moment for us. It signals that we will no longer stand for being ignored. Consultant vacancies in Scotland are at 15% and our NHS is on its knees. The link between the two is not hard to make. Unless we start valuing our senior doctors properly there is no way our NHS can be made sustainable in the long term. The Government knows that – it’s why in the past they have made significant noises about Scottish doctors being the best paid in the UK. It’s time they lived up to their words on this. I still very much hope they will, and when we do get round the table and into proper negotiations, be that in August or before, we can negate any need for industrial action. But it’s clear that should this not happen, we will be taking decisions together, as a consultant group, to ensure our collective voice is clearly heard.

Dr Alan Robertson is Chair of BMA Scotland’s Consultant Committee