GPs to take industrial action on 21st June
By William Smith
It has been announced by the British Medical Association (BMA) that doctors will take industrial action on 21st June in protest 
against the Government’s pension reforms.
This will be the first time that doctors have taken such action since 1975. The BMA Council has stated that it had received a strong mandate from a ballot of its members. Over 84% of doctors voted in favour of taking industrial action short of an all-out strike.
What will this mean to patients?
GPs will attend surgery on 21st June but only to provide urgent and emergency care. All routine procedures will be postponed.
The chair of council, Dr Hamish Meldrum, said that the MBA was taking this action ‘reluctantly’. In a statement in the Pulse, Dr Meldrum added ‘The clear mandate for action, on a very high turnout, reflects just how let down doctors feel by the Government’s unwillingness to find a fairer approach to the latest pension changes and its refusal to acknowledge the major reforms of 2008 that made the NHS scheme sustainable in the long term. We will also run our own publicity campaign to make sure that members of the public understand what the action will involve and how they can find out what it might mean for them and their families.’
A spokesman for the GPC assured a press conference that anyone who attends their surgeries and who appears to be ill would be seen.
