NHS strike: Leeds consultant warns service faces 'impending destruction'

NHS consultants are taking their first strike action since 2012

Experienced surgeons and medics are moving abroad to earn more, NHS consultants warned as they walked out in a dispute over pay.

Thousands of consultants in England walked out from 07:00 BST in their first strike action since 2012.

Dr Tracy Jackson, who was on the picket line at Leeds General Infirmary, said the government needed to understand why doctors were leaving the UK.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the government had listened to concerns.

Consultant gynaecologist Dr Jackson said: "I never expected to be standing on a picket line. It's not what I want to be doing. I want to be in the hospital looking after patients.

"But we didn't see any other way of trying to get the government to listen to us."

Dr Jackson, who has been a consultant for nearly 21 years and who works at St James's Hospital, said: "For me it's about the - it would appear - impending destruction of the National Health Service.

"We've got a recruitment and retention crisis. Junior doctors are leaving to go to the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand.

"Consultants are leaving - one of my consultant colleagues is leaving. For me it's about the future."

She said the government needed to understand that consultants can earn far more in Ireland and that other countries were making it attractive for doctors to move.

UK consultants were prized due to the quality of the training, she said, adding: "For me it isn't about pay, but it's derisory: 6%."

Members of the British Medical Association on the picket line outside Leeds General Infirmary

Eye surgeon Sakkaf Ahmed Aftab, chair of the British Medical Association Yorkshire consultant committee, was also outside Leeds General Infirmary.

He said: "I've been 20 years as a consultant and, where I work, I've lost two of my colleagues who have left the country and gone to Abu Dhabi - out of eight consultants - and, I've lost another one who's gone to New Zealand.

"We are struggling to cover on-call."

Mr Aftab, who practises in North Lincolnshire, said: "Yes, it is about pay in a sense, but it's more about saving the NHS.

"I can probably earn more by leaving the NHS. But it's more about you, your family and about me as I want the NHS to be there when I need it."

Mr Barclay urged the profession to end the dispute, saying the government had listened to concerns by increasing the amount that can be paid directly into pension pots tax-free, as well as accepting the recommendations of the independent pay review body and giving consultants a 6% pay rise this year.

He stressed it was the government's "final offer", adding: "It is now time to put patients first."