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Junior doctors in England will undertake a five-day walkout next month, which will be longest single period of industrial action in the history of the health service.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said that the strike will take place between 0700 on Thursday 13th July and 0700 on Tuesday 18th July.
It comes as a recent BMA survey shows that junior doctors report being inundated with more opportunities to move abroad in the last four months than ever before with 53% saying they have received more job advertisements from recruiters to overseas jobs since strikes were announced.
The General Medical Council also published a report today warning of the vicious cycle of burnout and workloads and the impact on patient care. It shows that nearly half (44%) of doctors found it difficult to provide their patients with the care needed, at least once a week. It also found that half of doctors with training responsibilities experienced compromised patient safety or care, on a weekly basis.
Strike talks not been reopened by government
Co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors committee Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “It has been almost a week since the last round of strikes finished but not once have we heard from Rishi Sunak or Steve Barclay in terms of reopening negotiations since their collapse of our talks and cancelling all scheduled meetings a month ago.
“What better indication of how committed they are to ending this dispute could we have? As their refusal to even discuss pay restoration leads to continued disruption to the health service, more than four-fifths of junior doctors report finding their patients supportive – they understand the value of a fully staffed and resourced NHS.
“We are announcing the longest single walkout by doctors in the NHS’s history – but this is not a record that needs to go into the history books. Even now the government can avert our action by coming to the table with a credible offer on pay restoration. Restoring pay can stem the flow of Australian job adverts in doctors’ social media feeds – and lead to a future 75 years of doctors being paid fairly, in a rebuilt workforce and NHS that this country can continue to be proud of.”
Strikes must be paused before talks, say government
A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said it was hugely disappointing that the BMA Junior Doctors Committee had declared further strike action in July as these five days will be hugely disruptive for patients and put pressure on other NHS staff.
The spokesperson added: “The government presented an opening offer and there were active discussions ongoing about a range of pay and non-pay measures to improve the working lives of junior doctors. However, the Junior Doctors Committee turned their back on negotiations by announcing further strikes.
“The government has been clear that strikes must be paused while talks take place, and we remain ready to continue talking at any point if strikes are called off and the Junior Doctors Committee show willingness to move significantly from their unreasonable pay demands.”