Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd
Blue Sky Offices Shoreham, 25 Cecil Pashley Way, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 5FF, UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 (0)1273 434 943
Email: [email protected]
Health Secretary Steve Barclay has admitted during junior doctor strike talks that he has not got the authority or the green light from Prime Minster Rishi Sunak to negotiate with the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee.
The confession came at a meeting at which committee co-chairs – Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi – had hoped an offer on the pay deal would be on the table.
Junior doctors in England will stage a 72-hour walk out from the 13th March. Over the past 15 years they have seen their pay erode by more than 26% with newly qualified doctors starting on £14 per hour; restoring pay would mean increasing that £14 to just £19.
BMA say they frustrated and “hugely disappointed” by talks
Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said it was “beyond belief” that the person in government appointed to look after our health service, and the staff in it, has no power to put any kind of deal on the table.
They added: “We went to today’s meeting with every intention of entering into negotiations with a Health Secretary who has known from day one of his tenure what was at stake – tens of thousands of junior doctors in England who are demoralised, exhausted, and vastly underpaid for the valuable work they do. Instead, he wanted to go over those details once more but did not or could not offer any kind of deal, or even start negotiations.
“Mr Barclay said that mandate lay with the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, yet neither were at the meeting, so we are no further forwards. Rishi Sunak urgently needs to either give his Health Secretary the mandate to negotiate a settlement with us or come to the negotiating table himself. Actions speak louder than words and if the Health Secretary and Prime Minster genuinely want to bring an end to the dispute, it is within their gift to do so. Put a realistic, reasonable offer on the table and let serious negotiations begin and if the deal is acceptable, strike action can be averted.”
The NHS Confederation said it was time to bring an end to this war of attrition with ongoing strike talks over the past few months and get back on track, continuing to tackle NHS waiting lists and treating as many patients as quickly as possible.