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The British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee has unanimously voted for further strike dates in December and January after failing to reach a pay agreement with the government.
Pay talks have been ongoing for the past five weeks, and while the government offered a further pay increase of 3% (on top of the 8.8% already given), the junior doctors committee says this was not a “credible offer”.
Strikes can be avoided if government puts a credible offer forward
Strikes are now set to take place in England on the lead up to Christmas from 7am on the 20th December to 7am on the 23rd December 2023. Further strike action will be held from 7am on the 3rd January to 7am on the 9th January 2024.
However, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trived say these strikes can be avoided if the government puts forward a credible offer, whether that be the day before or during the action.
“We have been clear from the outset of these talks that we needed to move at pace and if we did not have a credible offer, we would be forced to call strikes,” they said.
“After five weeks of intense talks, the Government was unable to present a credible offer on pay by the deadline. Instead, we were offered an additional 3%, unevenly spread across doctors’ grades, which would still amount to pay cuts for many doctors this year.
“It is clear the Government is still not prepared to address the real-terms pay cut doctors have experienced since 2008.”
Half of junior doctors considering leaving the NHS
The BMA says junior doctors’ pay has been cut by more than a quarter since 2008, and they are now calling for full pay restoration to these levels.
However, with the cost-of-living crisis and burnout exacerbated by the Covid pandemic, junior doctors are asking the government for a 35% pay increase.
With more than half of junior doctors making plans to leave the NHS, the Committee is urging the government to rethink this latest pay offer to avoid a mass exodus of junior doctors.
“We are still too far from turning the tide”
Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trived says while the new health secretary’s approach to pay talks was ‘constructive’, this was not sufficient to make up for 15 years of declining pay.
“A year after our dispute started, we are still too far from turning the tide on plummeting pay, morale, and retention of doctors,” they said.
“Rather than waste more time and money and have further disruption to patient care, the Health Secretary needs to make a credible offer now.”