Consultants’ pay rise will come at a high price - John McLellan

Anyone who has experienced an accident and emergency ward knows they are unpleasant places at the best of times, so it’s hard to imagine the trauma involved for the 1181 people who have died in an NHS Lothian A&E unit after waiting over four hours for treatment.

Accident and emergency at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary - nearly 1,200 patients have died since 2018 after waiting more than four hours in Lothian A&E departments. Picture: Ian Georgeson.

There is no dispute the service is beyond breaking point, and the latest statistics show that by the end of April 33 per cent of new patients waited beyond the four-hour target, so the 72 people who have died in these circumstances this year will tragically not be the last.

Lothian’s A&E waiting times are the same as the English average at the end of 2022, but in Ireland the average accident unit waiting time in February was 11.4 hours.

The Irish figure shows fees don’t guarantee better outcomes, because under their system there is a €100 (£85) charge for turning up at A&E without a GP referral or a means-tested medical card, for which two-thirds of the population don’t qualify.

You can save €25 by going to a small injuries’ clinic, with the same exemptions, but to get that GP referral without a medical card will cost you up to €65 (£56).

Anyone here up for that system? No, thought not.

So, when you hear militant consultants argue, as one did on Radio 4 this month, that their UK salaries of up to £126,000 should be raised to the same rate as their Irish counterparts, just over £200,000, you’ll know who pays for it.