#GPnews: BMA explains decision not to sign up to NHS pay rise demands

14:25 The BMA has come out to explain why it did not join 14 other unions in signing a letter demanding a 3.9% NHS pay rise.

A spokesperson said:  ‘The BMA has worked with, and supported, the other health trade unions in calling for and putting pressure on the government to remove the public sector pay cap. The BMA has also supported the RCN in its specific campaign to scrap the cap for nursing staff.

‘The BMA, alongside other trade unions representing the medical profession, submits its pay claim to a separate pay review body to agenda for change staff. We will be making our claim in due course and will be impressing on the review body and the Government that they must make a pay award which addresses the effect of the Governments public sector pay freeze, which has left doctors pay to fall in real terms by 22% since 2010.’

This followed criticism delivered by some doctors on social media.

14 unions signed this letter but not, of note, @TheBMA. You certain you’re representing your members here, chaps? https://t.co/SyeX1RCtXB

— Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford) September 15, 2017

14:15 One in five deaths around the world is related to a poor diet, reports the Guardian.

This was a finding of the ongoing Global Burden of Disease study, carried out at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The researchers sad the leading cause of premature death was smoking, followed by diet.

People live longest in Japan, with an 84-year average life span, while the lowest life expectancy – of just over 50 years – is found in the Central African Repuplic.

11:30 The London ambulance service says it has taken 18 people to hospital who were injured in an explosion on a London tube train this morning.

There were no fatalities in the incident, which is bring treated as terror related.

We have taken 18 patients to a number of London hospitals. None are thought to be in a serious or life-threatening condition #ParsonsGreenpic.twitter.com/3B13JznAqZ

— London Ambulance (@Ldn_Ambulance) September 15, 2017

09:45 Nurses and other NHS staff have come together to demand a 3.9% pay rise.

Fourteen unions, with a collective one million members, have signed the letter which has also been sent to the devolved nations.

However, the BMA – the main doctors’ union – has not put its name to the letter, according to the BBC.

Unison head of health Sara Gorton said: ‘Health workers have gone without a proper pay rise for far too long.

‘Their wages continue to fall behind inflation as food and fuel bills, housing and transport costs rise.’