NHS

Resident doctors’ 29% pay claim is non-negotiable, BMA chair says

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/11/resident-doctors-29-pay-claim-is-non-negotiable-bma-chair-says

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NHS logo. Resident doctors in England will strike later this month after being offered a 5.4% pay rise, which the government say will not be revisited.

Resident doctors’ 29% pay claim is non-negotiable, reasonable and easily affordable for the NHS, the new leader of the medical profession has said.

Strikes to ensure resident – formerly junior – doctors in England get the full 29% could drag on for years, according to Dr Tom Dolphin, the British Medical Association’s new council chair.

The doctors’ union will not negotiate on or accept a lower figure because that is the extent of the real-terms loss of earnings resident doctors have suffered since 2008, which they want restored – in full – Dolphin told the Guardian in his first interview since taking over last month.

The 29% demand is not up for negotiation “because it’s based on a principle”, said Dolphin, a consultant anaesthetist. “If we picked a different number, that wouldn’t achieve the pay restoration. So that’s why it looks inflexible.”

Dolphin blamed the five-day strike that tens of thousands of resident doctors plan to stage later this month on Wes Streeting, the health secretary, giving them a 22% pay rise over two years last year but not following it up with an award this year to take account of the 29% claim. He said the disruption that the 120-hour walkout would cause was his fault, not theirs.

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/11/resident-doctors-29-pay-claim-is-non-negotiable-bma-chair-says

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Resident doctors vote for strikes that could hit the NHS for six months

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/resident-doctors-vote-strikes-could-hit-nhs-six-months

 Junior doctors and members of the British Medical Association (BMA) outside Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, January 3, 2024

THE NHS could face six months of disruption after resident doctors in England voted in favour of strike action today.

Downing Street said that pay negotiations would not be reopened because the government “can’t be more generous” than it has been already this year.

Some 90 per cent of voting resident doctors in England, formerly known as junior doctors, said they would down stethoscopes and take to picket lines amid an ongoing row over pay.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said that there had been a turnout of 55 per cent and that resident doctors needed an increase of 29.2 per cent to reverse “pay erosion” since 2008-09.

The union added that there was “still time to avert strike action” and urged the government to “come forward as soon as possible with a credible path to pay restoration.”

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/resident-doctors-vote-strikes-could-hit-nhs-six-months

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7.50am. Don’t know where that V came from or what it means. It might be a V for victory sign or similar. I’m quite ill atm with an extremely painful ear infection, at least that’s what the Notional Health Service said after a remarkably cursory assessment. Basically the Emergency Care Nurse looked at the swelling in my face, said you’ve got an ear infection and no you can’t have any painkillers. I seem to be repeatedly abused by the NHS, starting to wonder whether it’s purpose is social control through pain and neglect.

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Thousands harmed and 87 dead after NHS equipment failures in England

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/09/thousands-harmed-and-87-dead-after-nhs-equipment-failures-in-england

Labour has pledged to double the number of scanners in English hospitals over the course of the parliament. Photograph: wilpunt/Getty Images

‘Shocking statistics’ prompt calls for government funding to replace broken and obsolete medical devices

Almost 100 people have died and 4,000 have been harmed after equipment malfunctions in the NHS in the past three years, prompting calls for more government funding to upgrade broken and obsolete medical devices.

A defibrillator advising paramedics not to administer a shock, an emergency alarm system on a neonatal ward failing, and the camera on an intubation device going dark were just three failures after which patients died.

They are included in figures released for the first time by NHS England that show patients were harmed after 3,915 equipment malfunction incidents – with 87 being followed by a death – since 2022.

Paul Whiteing, the chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents, said: “These are shocking statistics. Behind these numbers are real people who are needlessly harmed, the impact of which will be life-changing and traumatic.

“The scale of the harm and loss of life that has resulted from basic equipment failures and malfunctions shows in stark relief the scale of the tragedy that has resulted from years of underfunding in the NHS.”

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Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “Modern, up-to-date equipment such as scanners, defibrillators and patient monitors are absolutely essential for hospitals to run safely and more productively. But due to more than a decade of being starved of capital investment, NHS staff have been left with no option but to extend the life of obsolete equipment, which, as this research shows, is putting patients at unnecessary risk and leading to tragic avoidable harm.

“While the additional investment the government has pledged has been a welcome start, without sufficient capital funding it will be hard for the NHS to maintain the standards patients rightly expect and to deliver the government’s ‘plan for change’ promise to cut waiting times.”

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Original article is at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/09/thousands-harmed-and-87-dead-after-nhs-equipment-failures-in-england

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UK government withholding details of Palantir contract

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https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/uk-government-withholding-details

KPMG is being paid £8 million to promote Peter Thiel’s tech in NHS hospitals – but we’re being forced to fight for information about this public contract.

It’s been a good week for Palantir. The controversial spy-tech company, co-founded by Trump donor Peter Thiel, looks set to secure even more UK government work after the defence secretary pledged to expand the role of AI in the military.

Palantir already holds a £330 million NHS data contract. But as Democracy for Sale revealed last week, most hospitals in England are not using the software, with many complaining that it simply isn’t up to scratch.

To encourage hospitals to take it up, the government signed an £8 million deal with consultancy giant KPMG to “promote the adoption” of Palantir’s tech in the NHS.

We wanted to know more about how this money is being spent. How exactly has KPMG been promoting Palantir’s software to hospitals? And has it worked?

So, we submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), asking for reports produced by KPMG under its contract, as well as briefings prepared for Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who publicly supported the deal.

The government’s response? Silence. They’re refusing to release the information—so now we’re fighting for transparency.

Sue Hawley, executive director of Spotlight on Corruption, told us the government’s “impulse to secrecy around public money and public contracts” is “deeply concerning.”

“KPMG’s contract raises a real question: if [Palantir’s] software is so good, why does the government need to give £8 million of taxpayers’ money to a management consultancy to encourage NHS hospitals to use it?,” she added.

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Article continues at https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/uk-government-withholding-details

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