PATIENT safety will be the "priority" for doctors during a 24-hour work-to-rule tomorrow, the BMA has said, although it acknowledged the public would not support the action.
GPs and hospital medics will attend only to patients requiring urgent and emergency care, while routine procedures and outpatient appointments have been postponed and paperwork will be shelved until Friday in protest at proposed changes to NHS pensions.
BMA chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum said: "We are not expecting members of the public to support the action, but we hope they can understand why doctors have been driven to this point – for the first time in 40 years.
"Patient safety is our priority. We have been clear throughout that any emergency care – or other care urgently needed by patients – will be provided. We are undertaking this action with extreme reluctance."
The UK Government has said the reforms are necessary to make NHS pensions sustainable long-term.
In an open letter to the Herald today, Dr Meldrum said: "Doctors are being asked to work even longer, up to 68 years of age and contribute even more, meaning doctors have to pay twice as much as civil servants on the same pay, for the same pension.
"Doctors accept the need to play their part in improving public finances. We don't expect better pensions or preferential treatment, just fair treatment."
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