The British Medical Association has told medical students to not volunteer on NHS wards to fight coronavirus until the Government has drawn up clear pay plans.
The doctors union has urged students against helping the overwhelmed NHS until a national contract on pay, holiday and pension is finalised.
Critics said the union, which has around 160,000 members, had shown its ‘true colours’ – putting the interest of its members over patient’s lives.
A ‘tsunami’ of COVID-19 patients have flooded NHS hospitals already and demand is expected to peak in the coming weeks, as the UK’s outbreak spirals.
Almost 19,000 final year student medics are waiting to be put on the frontline as early as next week, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.
NHS England hopes for final-year medical and nursing students to play a crucial part in supporting hospital staff who are overstretched.
The British Medical Association has told medical students to not volunteer on NHS wards to fight coronavirus. Pictured, an NHS nurse in Liverpool
In a letter published in The Times today, Martin McNally of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust said the BMA’s response to the student workforce was ‘disappointing’.
He says the BMA ‘advised medical students to decline voluntary work until a national contract has been agreed with the BMA, which covers pay, annual leave, study leave, expenses, pensions and much more’.
Professor McNally said: ‘The many NHS staff who have worked selflessly over the last few weeks have done so without any regard for pay, hours of work, pension or leave.
‘I cannot imagine that the public volunteers are considering pension entitlement.
‘When individuals or institutions are faced with a crisis, they often show their true colours.
‘The BMA has shown that it is a self-serving union which puts its own interests above the lives of our patients.’
A total of 18,700 final year student nurses will join the coronavirus battle along with 5,500 final year student doctors, Matt Hancock announced on March 25.
Second-year nursing students have been told they will split their time on wards with coursework 80/20, compared to the usual 50/50.
According to NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens, they will be paid for their work, ‘probably band 5-type pay’, which is £22,000 to £28,000.
Gurdas Singh and Chris Smith, co-chairs of the BMA’s medical students committee, said the BMA was ‘of course supportive’ of nurses entering the force – but ‘with adequate contractual protections’.
It emerged yesterday that dentists and their practice staff may also be used against COVID-19. Some will working at the new NHS Nightingale hospital, currently being rapidly put together at the Excel conference centre in London (pictured)
The BMA has been at the forefront of demanding the safeguard of frontline workers as the coronavirus outbreak rocks the NHS. Pictured, a nurse wearing proper PPE in Finland
‘The BMA is also keen to ensure that these new members of the workforce are given the appropriate employment conditions and protections,’ the chairmen said to The Times.
‘We expect that these medical students are granted the protections that healthcare workers are afforded as well as ensuring they are acting within their competence.
‘The BMA supports the decision to allow early provisional registration of final-year medical students but they must have the necessary induction, support and supervision that they need to become junior doctors, sooner than they would normally expect to.
‘This is to make sure they are properly supervised and supported to give patients the most appropriate care they can.’
The comments have been echoed by other figures representing nursing.
Katerina Kolyva, executive director of the Council of Deans of Health, the body that represents UK universities that provide nurse education, has emphasised any student working on the front line should be treated as staff, with the accompanying contracts.
The BMA has been at the forefront of demanding the safeguarding of frontline workers as the coronavirus outbreak rocks the NHS.
It’s previously slammed the Government for its ‘unacceptable’ failures to provide personal protective clothing (PPE), including gloves, masks and gowns.
Concerns have been raised for the thousands of retired staff offering to help the NHS, many of whom will be considered vulnerable to COVID-19.
A further 11,788 recently retired NHS staff had responded to the call to return to the service, including 2,660 doctors, more than 2,500 pharmacists and other staff and 6,147 nurses.
It emerged yesterday that dentists and their practice staff may also be used against COVID-19 because all non-urgent work, such as fillings, are being suspended.
Some will work at the new NHS Nightingale hospital, currently being rapidly built inside the Excel conference centre in London.
The British Dental Association said it should be on a voluntary basis and called for protections for any staff at higher risk, the BBC reported.
Last night the NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said 660,680 people have signed up to volunteer for the NHS.
They will be undertaking tasks such as delivering medicines to vulnerable people or making phone calls to check on those in self-isolation at home.
Britain’s coronavirus death toll rose by 115 yesterday in what was by far its biggest 24-hour surge. There are now 578 confirmed deaths.