Doctors to be balloted over strike action

Doctors on the island will be balloted over taking industrial action

Doctors on the Isle of Man are to be balloted over strike action for the first time, a union has confirmed.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said some of its members working in the island’s health service had experienced "real terms pay cuts" of up to 29% since 2008.

The BMA said the 155 members eligible to take part in the ballot, which includes consultants, salaried GPs and dentists, were asking for a 12.6% uplift for the 2023-24 pay award.

Manx Care said it was “disappointed" it had not been able to resolve the pay negotiations but a 6% "interim award” for the year would now be implemented.

Pay rises of 3% for the 2021-22, followed by 6% coupled with a £1,000 consolidated increase in 2022-23 were awarded in previous years, it said.

Chief executive Theresa Cope said were the health care provider to meet the BMA's demands it would need to find up to £4m to plug the "significant gap of 6.6%".

“That’s a significant difference at any stage, but particularly when Manx Care is facing such wider challenges around its funding,” Ms Cope said.

The island's arm's length health care provider recently outlined £5m of savings it plans to make to reduce its forecast £16.8m deficit in 2024-25.

'Working conditions'

The union said while inflation on the island had increased by 56.3% over the past 16 years. the "the maximum consultant’s salary increased by just 27.3% over the same period".

The island's doctors risked "being left behind" as the island was self-governing and not linked to UK pay scales, and additional rewards for outstanding work or research were not available, the BMA said.

Chairman of the Isle of Man Medical Society Prakash Thiagarajan said doctors on the island "deserve to be paid fairly for the work they do".

"No doctor wants to go on strike, but we’ve been trying to improve working conditions for doctors on the Isle of Man by other means for years, to no avail," he said.

The BMA said the dates of the ballot would be announced “in the next few weeks”, and if it received a majority vote doctors would be eligible to take industrial action.

Chairman of the union’s council Phil Banfield said a recent survey of doctors on the island had shown they were "deeply frustrated" and the BMA "stands ready to support Manx doctors in fighting for appropriate recognition of their skills and expertise”.