The Belfast Telegraph has recently reported that a meeting held between Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt, the NI branch of the British Medical Association (BMA) in August last year the doctors union urged the “stop something else” within the health service in order to afford to pay an uplift in doctors’ salaries.

In November 2025 an increase was announced, including a 4 per cent uplift for doctors – 5.4% for resident doctors – which was due to be in pay packets by February 2026, which was not extended to all healthcare staff.

There have been many health and social care industrial disputes over pay parity, and many days and weeks of negotiations and strikes, which the Workers Party supported by joining picket lines at hospitals and other health service facilities and centres. But never once did any of the other trade unions suggest cutting services to fund pay uplifts. I find this approach to bargaining most concerning and believe the BMA needs to be honest with patients, service users, and the public who are the taxpayers, about just what services they were prepared to sacrifice.

It was jaw dropping to see in black and white that doctors said, “preference is that Minister pays the uplift and stops something else in the health service and BMA would support him”.

The meeting was between the minister and BMA’s Northern Ireland branch of practice committee chairs, who represent primary care and secondary care doctors working in the Northern Ireland health service.

While the Workers Party believes that all health service staff should have ringfenced funding for pay awards. But to suggest cutting parts of the health services which would be detrimental to patient care, with these medical staff prepared to back the Minister regardless of future clinical outcomes is not only callous, but mercenary in the extreme.

The Workers Party has been pointing out for decades that the current crisis has been created by design, because Ministers and senior managers have allowed vested interests to dictate what services should be delivered. This latest example further highlights that they believe they are still in the driving seat.