The government has accepted NHS consultants’ request to enter negotiations in the ongoing pay dispute in England, nearly seven months after it began.
During the 72-hour walkout by consultants on 2-5 October, the British Medical Association said it would not call any more strikes until November to allow time for talks.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care yesterday said it would meet the BMA following its commitment to pause strike action, but that consultants had already received a “fair and reasonable pay rise” as recommended by the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB).
The DHSC added that consultants had also received generous reforms to their pensions.
In a letter to Rishi Sunak last month, the BMA’s consultants said it would stop industrial action if they received a pay uplift of around 12%, double the rise recommended by the DDRB and accepted by the government.
Having repeatedly said the 6% rise for 2023-24 was “final”, the government has said that pay rises are not up for negotiation, although other incentives could be discussed.
Dr Vishal Sharma, chair of the BMA consultants committee, said: “The BMA consultants committee has been clear that reform of the broken pay review process is essential to resolving this dispute.”
He added: “It is good to see the government is willing to come to the table and it is vital that they commit to serious negotiations with a view to bringing this avoidable dispute to a conclusion.”
Consultants have walked out on strike three times since August, twice coinciding action with their junior doctor colleagues. The talks with the government will not cover the junior doctors’ dispute.
Meanwhile, the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA), a smaller trade union for medics, has opened its strike ballot for consultants and ‘specialty and specialist’ (SAS) doctors.
HCSA president Dr Naru Narayanan said: “HCSA is as old as the NHS itself. If consultant and SAS members vote to strike it will be for the first time in our history. More than a decade of real-terms pay cuts and dangerous understaffing have put our profession under threat.
“Consultants have seen their pay eroded more than any other NHS staff group. For many SAS doctors, the move to a new contract and multi-year pay deals have worsened pay erosion.”
An indicative BMA ballot of SAS doctors, to gauge whether they would join the industrial action, closed on Monday but the results have not yet been announced.
Commenting on the new talks between the BMA and the government, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said: “Given the huge disruption that industrial action has caused to patient care over the last 10 months, health leaders will be cautiously optimistic about the government’s invitation to the BMA’s consultants committee to begin negotiations.
“While this development is a positive step in the right direction as it could signal an end to further walkouts from consultants, there is not yet cause for celebration. With the government and the junior doctors’ committee still at a standstill and the results of the indicative ballot for SAS doctors imminent, the looming threat of further strikes facing the NHS remains.”
He added that health leaders will be hopeful the consultants’ talks with government could be used as a “springboard for negotiations” to begin with the junior doctors and other groups.
The Society of Radiographers also remains in dispute in England and its members walked out at 37 NHS trusts earlier this month.
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