Lansley accuses doctors of robbing nurses’ pensions to fund their retirement pot

The war of words between the government and the BMA over pensions has intensified further after the health secretary for England, Andrew Lansley, accused striking doctors of putting their own interests not only before those of patients but also before those of other NHS and public sector staff.

In a strongly worded preamble to his speech to delegates at the annual NHS Confederation conference in Manchester on 20 June he made it clear that the industrial action on 21 June, called by the BMA in protest over plans to make doctors stump up more for their pensions,1 was “pointless” but would “inevitably damage services for patients.”

“We all wish there was more money to go around, but there isn’t,” he said bluntly, accusing the BMA of ignoring “the economic and financial realities.”

Lengthy discussions had been held with all …