DOCTORS have escalated their dispute with the Government over pension reforms by calling for more industrial action.
Another day of action could see doctors running a Christmas Day-style service, with only emergency services operating.
At the British Medical Association (BMA) conference in Bournemouth, a large majority of delegates voted on a motion which said "further industrial action was necessary".
Doctors also called on UK Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to resign, saying they had no confidence in him. But they stepped back from demanding another day of action be called immediately.
Last week doctors took industrial action for the first time in almost four decades by boycotting non-urgent care.
The BMA announced the move after it accused ministers of pressing ahead with "totally unjustified" increases in pension contributions and a later retirement age for doctors.
Yesterday, doctors proposed further action by the BMA should be co-ordinated with other unions to maximise its impact. They urged BMA leaders to "consider a range of options in defence of our pensions" including "withdrawal from clinical commissioning activity" and "in secondary care, withdrawal of labour with emergency cover only".
Even though the motions were passed by delegates, under BMA rules only the body's full council can authorise such action.
Proposing the motions, Dr Kevin O'Kane said: "If we want to protect our pensions, we need to stay united and have no choice but to take further industrial action.
"Andrew Lansley, you've driven doctors to take industrial action for the first time in 40 years, well done. We don't want to take this action, it doesn't come naturally to us, but be assured we are fast learners."
The action last week left thousands of patients unable to have a planned operation or see their specialist or GP. Figures show the action last Thursday hit almost one-fifth of GP practices.
Dr Brian Keighley, chairman of the British Medical Association's Scottish Council, warned this week that Scots doctors will take part in more strike action unless the Scottish Government shows it is committed to overruling Westminster-driven changes to pensions.
The GP said the SNP could use money from Scotland's block grant from Westminster to cover the doctors' increased pension contributions and keep their retirement age at 60, which would mean they would not need to work a further eight years.
He said: "I would ask the Government to throw us some sort of concession to show they are willing to take another approach. The amount this would cost would be very limited."
The Scottish Government runs the pension scheme north of the border. Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon previously said she regrets the action but the Scottish Parliament has "limited room for manoeuvre".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article