Consultant doctors have vowed to pause strike action for four weeks if ministers agree to talks with the conciliation service Acas.
In a letter to prime minister Rishi Sunak, Dr Vishal Sharma, the British Medical Association’s consultant leader, said the union is “willing not to call further strikes for four weeks to facilitate negotiations taking place”.
It has given the Department of Health a deadline of 3 November to “reach a credible deal we can put to our members”. If this does not happen, the union has threatened further strikes in November and December.
Junior and senior doctors who are members of the BMA and junior doctors from the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) began a 72-hour strike at 7:00am yesterday morning (2 October).
The two groups represent about four-fifths of doctors working in hospitals and have only agreed to provide “Christmas Day” levels of care.
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Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, urged the government to accept the “olive branch” from consultants and enter negotiations to end the strikes.
“Something has to give. We can’t go into another ‘full on’ winter with the threat of more strikes hanging over the NHS,” he said.
“We have said before that we would welcome all sides using an intermediary like Acas if that helps to break the deadlock.”
Dr Sharma will address a rally of striking doctors outside the Conservative Party conference in Manchester today.
He will tell delegates that the government’s position that it won’t negotiate while strikes are called is a “ridiculous position”.
“They should be doing everything, right up until the last minute, to avert strike action. Our door has always been open, and that remains the case,” he will say.
“We have not yet called further strikes beyond this week, and have given the government four weeks from today to enter formal talks and present us with a credible offer. We have also indicated that we are willing to involve Acasto conciliate a resolution.
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“The ball is well and truly in the prime minister’s court. The government has run out of excuses not to negotiate in good faith. But they need to know that, if they fail to negotiate, we are not going anywhere.”
Acas, for its part, is ready to support the conciliation process, but said the organisation would only get involved if there was an invitation from both sides.
Chief conciliator Marina Glasgow said: “We have a team of experts who are well prepared and ready to help with the consultants and junior doctors’ disputes.”
Dr Jeanette Dickson, chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said: “We have repeatedly called on both sides to get round the table and if this suggestion of a pause in industrial action and possibly bringing in independent arbitration is a way of breaking the current stalemate then it should be taken up without delay.
“We must do everything we can to lessen the impact on patients the strikes are having and this seems like a positive step which is long overdue.”
Junior doctors from the BMA invited the government to Acas-mediated talks in April.
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