A militant leader of England’s junior doctors has gone on holiday – just as his colleagues launched the most disruptive strike in NHS history, the Mail can reveal.
Dr Robert Laurenson has played a key role in plotting the devastating 96-hour industrial action.
However, as the strike began at 7am yesterday, he was absent because he had already booked time off to attend a friend’s wedding.
While colleagues will lose money for taking part in the action, because Dr Laurenson has taken annual leave it is understood he will not be penalised.
Up to 47,600 doctors below the rank of consultant have thrown the health service into chaos with the strike.
Dr Robert Laurenson (pictured: right) has played a key role in plotting the devastating 96-hour industrial action
Up to 47,600 doctors below the rank of consultant have thrown the health service into chaos with the strike
They are refusing to cover any services, including A&E and cancer care, as they pursue a 35 per cent pay rise, worth up to £20,000.
Health bosses warn the walkout is putting lives at risk and say it will take weeks to reschedule the 350,000 appointments and operations that are likely to be postponed.
The British Medical Association website tells junior doctors they will lose pay if they fail to turn up to work on strike days when scheduled to be on shift.
It acknowledges losing pay will be ‘hard’ but encourages members to join the walkout regardless, saying: ‘If we do not fight to defend our pay now, we could stand to lose a lot more in the future.’
However, it also stresses doctors ‘must’ be paid if they have booked the time off as holiday and notes they ‘should not be called in’ to work during annual leave.
Dr Laurenson, 28, is co-chairman of the British Medical Association’s junior doctor committee, which has been championing strikes and has refused to exempt the likes of emergency care from the action.
The trainee GP, who is also a director of his parents’ multi-million investment firm, was among BMA delegates at pay talks with Health Secretary Steve Barclay last month.
The talks broke down within half an hour, with Whitehall sources saying the union was ‘intent on having a fight’ and had refused to budge from demands for a 35 per cent rise.
A BMA spokesman said last night: ‘Dr Laurenson is off work this week fulfilling a long-standing commitment to attend the wedding of a family friend. He remains actively involved in the planning of the dispute and we expect he will be undertaking some media work.’
The BMA yesterday threatened further action if ministers do not agree to its demands. Dr Vivek Trivedi, the other co-chairman of the BMA junior doctors committee, said: ‘Strikes are by nature designed to be disruptive, to put pressure on the Government to come to the table.’
The British Medical Association website tells junior doctors they will lose pay if they fail to turn up to work on strike days when scheduled to be on shift
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS in England, told Times Radio: ‘This is… probably the most disruptive period of action in NHS history.
‘Our focus has been on providing cover for absent junior doctors – they make up to half of the medical workforce.
‘Those staff who are covering can’t be in two places at once so that does mean disruption and cancellations, I’m afraid.’
Asked about comments that the strike will cause disruption for at least a month, he said: ‘It will certainly last weeks. This is going to cause unparalleled disruption.’
Miriam Deakin of NHS Providers, which represents trusts, said: ‘Keeping patients as safe as possible – trusts’ number one priority – will be even harder than in previous strikes, so it’s all hands on deck.
‘Trust leaders are worried about securing adequate cover for night shifts. This is going to be a very long, difficult week for the NHS.’ Managers are finding it more difficult to find cover than on previous occasions because many consultants have taken leave for the Easter holidays.
Mr Barclay said he deeply regretted the timing of the strikes after the Easter bank holiday. He also regretted that the BMA had asked members not to tell NHS managers ‘whether they intended to go on strike or not – making contingency planning more difficult – and also their refusal to agree on any national exemptions’.
He added: ‘We are ready to have discussions but clearly a demand for 35 per cent is not fair or reasonable.’
Yesterday hundreds of doctors marched past Downing Street and Parliament after a rally in central London. The strikes will continue until Saturday morning.
Holidaying chief is director of £2m family investment firm
Dr Laurenson is a co-chairman of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee
With his calls for junior doctors to show their ‘willingness to fight’ on the picket lines, Dr Robert Laurenson could be mistaken for an old-school socialist union baron.
But the 28-year-old, who has been a key figure in this week’s strike action, is also a director of an investment firm run by his family.
Dr Laurenson is a co-chairman of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee and was involved in communications with the Department of Health over the pay row earlier this year.
He disclosed details of the faltering discussions in an open letter to doctors last month, telling them: ‘Doctors, you must demonstrate your willingness to fight for full pay restoration and so to the picket lines we must take.’
Yet Dr Laurenson will not be joining his colleagues on the picket line this week because he is attending the wedding of a family friend instead, according to the BMA.
He is a GP trainee at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, having taken a year out after his degree to work as a freelance doctor for ‘money and wellbeing’, according to his LinkedIn.
The firm for which he worked as a locum doctor has drawn millions from the NHS by cashing in on staff shortages.
Dr Laurenson is also listed alongside his parents and brothers as a director at Westholme Investments Limited. The business holds over £2million of investments and previously ran a Surrey golf course described as ‘one of the finest’ in the county.
Dr Laurenson was made a director in 2013, a year after he began his medical degree at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. It is understood he has no day-to-day duties with the firm and does not draw a salary or dividends and is not a shareholder.
He attended Sevenoaks School in Kent, one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the country which charges fees of up to £46,566 per year for sixth-formers.
