‘There’s a lot being taken on faith’ - Consultant warns threat of industrial action isn’t over for health workers

HEALTH workers must see results on pay awards before industrial action is off the table, a hospital consultant has said.

In the second part of an interview with Dr David Farren, chair of the BMA’s Northern Ireland Consultants Committee, he told The Irish News that staff must have confidence they are not being left behind their colleagues across the UK.

On Wednesday, Dr Farren spoke of the challenge of rising flu levels and that the health service could be heading for another disaster if numbers continue to rise.

“We keep saying the health service is going to collapse. We keep saying that the people in the health service are an amazingly resilient bunch, but that is the only reason it’s still standing,” Dr Farren said.

Belfast church opens doors to homeless as freezing temperatures trigger emergency protocol

PSNI officer arrested over ‘alleged abuse of position for sexual purposes’

Dr Farren also said the Health Minister Mike Nesbitt should not assume the threat of industrial action was over.

“He made the point (at Tuesday’s emergency meeting of the health committee) that we have the same problems in England,” he said.

“But actually, we still don’t have pay parity. He mentions avoiding industrial action, but resident doctors (previously known as junior doctors) and SAS doctors are currently voting on a deal – so I wouldn’t say he’s avoided it.

“Consultants reached a deal in August, but it still hasn’t been paid. There’s an awful lot that’s being taken on faith.”

Last month, healthcare workers in the Unison, Nipsa and Unite trade unions had also accepted an “enhanced pay offer” with a commitment that pay parity would be maintained for the full year 2024/25 at 5.5%.

Before Christmas, Mr Nesbitt said he regretted the process had been “so elongated and complicated” but that he was “determined to avoid a repetition of this situation in future years.”

Asked if things had improved nearly a year after Stormont’s return, Dr Farren said: “I think there’s been a couple of hiccups along the way, but we’re still at a point where we need to see things being delivered.

“We need easy wins.

“At times like this when you have people sitting in ambulances for 12-24 hours or longer, people on trolleys in ED for four or five days, being nursed in corridors.

“There is no dignity in a patient sitting in a bed in a corridor with no privacy or ability to call a nurse.

“It is not the system that I started in and it has consistently slipped year on year.”

With growing pressure on the Stormont Executive to deliver a rescue plan, he commented: “There needs to be an understanding that we will only get the health service we are prepared to pay for.

“I understand health and social care already gets a large share of our budget. But that’s because people are living longer and with more complex conditions.

“I think there has to be an understanding that the health service will cost what it costs.

“It’s not about setting a restrictive budget, but actually asking what it really costs to deliver what we expect for people on the ground.

“Which will mean you’ll be robbing Peter to pay Paul, but that’s the job of government unfortunately.”