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More than three quarters (78%) of junior doctors in England have voted for strike action in the British Medical Association’s (BMA) latest ballot.
Out of the 47,600 junior doctors eligible to vote, almost 37,000 voted in the latest ballot, one of the largest turnouts for a ballot of doctors ever seen. Of those who voted, 98% voted in favour of strike action.
The results of the ballot mean there will be a 72-hour walkout next month, alongside strikes from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), who will stage a 48-hour walkout between 1 and 3 March, and ambulance strikes on 6 and 20 March.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen said the strikes “will leave no area of the NHS unaffected.”
Thousands of non-urgent procedures, checks and appointments could be cancelled
In a speech at the young doctors’ conference in Bristol, Professor Philip Banfield, BMA Chair of Council, said the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary are standing on the “precipice of an historic mistake”.
Mr Banfield said that refusing to enter meaningful negotiations with trade unions and waiting out the strikes is “reckless”. This is something Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, has echoed.
Mr Taylor says the “sheer scale” of the BMA’s ballot outcome, as well as the fact that many health leaders have said that more of their staff have joined unions since the start of this dispute, shows that this is clearly “not a situation that will resolve itself”.
He added that the strikes will lead to the cancellation of thousands of non-urgent procedures, checks and other appointments, and if pay disputes continue, emergency care could also be affected, something that will be “hugely disruptive and worrying for many people”.
“The Prime Minister has a choice to make, which is to either seek some resolution with the trade unions, or to jeopardise his commitment to cut NHS waiting lists,” he concluded.
2% pay increase offer “insulting”
The Junior Doctors Committee says that junior doctors are “frustrated, in despair and angry” and this historic vote shows that “doctors won’t take it anymore.”
They say that the government “only has itself to blame” and this decision could have been avoided if ministers were more willing to listen to the NHS workforce.
BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “We have had a real-terms pay cut of more than 26 % since 2008. This year we were offered an insulting 2% pay, which means with inflation at over 10%, we are working more than a month for free.
“Added to that, ever-worsening conditions mean more doctors are being lured away from the NHS to seek better paid medical careers and quality of life elsewhere.
“There is no doubt that this is a crisis, but it is of the Government’s making – so far refusing to have any meaningful discussions with us about pay. The road to recovery must start with Ministers listening to us and paying us what we’re worth.”
