THE junior doctors’ strike leader is no longer a junior doctor and cannot join the picket lines, The Sun can reveal.
Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chair of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee, was registered as a fully qualified GP this month.
It means he cannot join the strikes he calls for, so won’t have to lose cash in future walkouts — and can now earn at least £70,000 per year in the NHS.
Trainee medics go on strike for the 10th time from Saturday until Wednesday as they demand a 35 per cent pay hike.
Tory MP Paul Bristow, from the Commons’ Health Committee, said: “These strikes cannot be led by someone who isn’t a junior doctor.
“He has no skin in the game so he can prolong the strikes while still getting paid.”
Dr Laurenson, 29, has come under fire before for going on holiday during a strike last year and later saying he would go to work in Canada.
He was educated at the £46,566-a-year private Sevenoaks School in Kent and is a director at his family’s multi-million-pound investments firm.
Junior doctors — including GP registrars — in England are paid between £32,398 and £63,152 a year, depending on their level of experience.
Fully qualified salaried GPs receive between £68,975 and £104,085 annually, while independent contractors who run their own practices can earn more.
The British Medical Association said Dr Laurenson was a junior doctor when he was elected and will continue to serve as the juniors’ leader until October.
They added Dr Laurenson will not be working on strike days but refused to confirm if he will be taking paid or unpaid leave.
A BMA spokesperson said: “Dr Laurenson is elected to the position of co-chair of junior doctors committee until the end of the 2023/24 session.
“He is not required to step down immediately because he is a GP and with the full support of the committee, he will continue as the elected co-chair until the end of his term.”
The NHS is gearing up to face yet more strike disruption this weekend, which will take the total up to 44 days lost to action since doctors first started walkouts last year.
It is the equivalent of 12 per cent of the year.
Strikes have cost the health service £3billion so far and seen 1.4million appointments cancelled, according to NHS Providers.
Health service bosses warned the constant industrial action is pushing the NHS to breaking point, especially with winter viruses still rampant on wards.
There were 2,208 patients in hospital beds with flu last week — nearly four times as many as the same week last year, NHS figures show.
Sir Stephen Powis, of NHS England, said: “It’s not possible to have one in every 10 days affected by strikes for over a year without it having a huge impact on services and patients.
“The NHS is under huge strain trying to mitigate the impact of these latest strikes during one of the most difficult times of the year.”
The latest round of strikes were called after negotiations with ministers broke down in January.
A Government source said: “As the leaders of the Junior Doctors Committee know full well, junior doctors have already received a pay increase of up to 10.3 per cent this year.
“If they are serious about reaching a further deal they need to come to the negotiating table rather than calling strikes that mean tens of thousands more NHS appointments are cancelled.”
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