Junior doctors to strike three days a month as pay talks fail

JUNIOR doctors will strike for at least three days every month over summer after new pay talks with the Government broke down.

The British Medical Association, which has been demanding a 35 per cent pay rise, said the Government’s offer of 5 per cent was not ‘credible’.

The junior doctors will now walk out for 72 hours from 7am on Wednesday, June 14, to 7am on Saturday, June 17.

But a Department of Health source said the union had ‘unrealistic expectations’ and had not only ‘refused to shift’ during talks but ‘actually demanded more’.

it is understood the BMA proposed a multi-year settlement, in which doctors below the rank of consultant receive a 49 per cent boost between 2021 and 2024.

The strikes are likely to undermine efforts to tackle record patient waiting lists. More than half a million appointments and operations have so far been cancelled as a result of NHS industrial action by the likes of doctors, nurses and paramedics.

Around a million NHS staff on the Agenda for Change Contract, which includes most employees other than doctors and dentists, have accepted an offer of a 5 per cent rise and one-off bonus payment.

Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairmen of the BMA junior doctors committee, said they have held three weeks of negotiations with the Government since their strikes in April.

But they added: ‘Talks have now reached a stage where they are unproductive.

‘Accordingly, we are in a position where we must call new industrial action.

‘if the Government doesn’t change their position, we will strike throughout the summer.

This means we will call a minimum of three days of action every month for the duration of our mandate for industrial action.’ The pair said they hope to meet Health Secretary Steve Barclay tomorrow but department sources say there will be no further talks until strikes are called off.

A Government spokesman said: ‘it is both surprising and deeply disappointing that the BMA junior doctors committee has declared further strike action while constructive talks were ongoing.’ Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said: ‘it’s hugely disappointing that talks between the Government and the doctors’ unions have broken down again.

‘This will lead to major disruption to patient care.’ The Royal College of Nursing opens a ballot on strike action today.