Junior doctors have voted in favour of more strike action, announcing new strike dates in England that overlap with their senior colleagues.
Consultants, who are members of the British Medical Association, are already scheduled to strike on 19-20 September with “Christmas Day” levels of cover.
Junior doctors from both the BMA and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) will now join them on 20 September, with the same levels of cover, and stage a full walkout on 21-22 September.
This will then be followed by strikes by both junior doctors and consultants, also with “Christmas Day” levels of cover, on 2-4 October, coinciding with the Conservative party conference.
The announcement follows overwhelming support in a re-ballot of junior doctors to continue industrial action for another six months, with 98.4% of BMA members voting in favour of strike on a turnout of 71.3%. The renewed mandate lasts until 29 February 2024.
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Sir Julian Harley, chief executive at NHS Providers, described the coordinated strike action as a “serious escalation” and the prospect of another six months of industrial action as grim.
“Trust leaders understand doctors’ reasons for striking, but patients are paying the price. Nearly 1 million appointments have already been pushed back since industrial action started in December.
“This number grows with every strike, further delaying care and jeopardising vital work to bear down on backlogs, including the government’s key pledge to cut the waiting list.”
He added that the extended mandate was a wake-up call for both sides of the dispute to sit down together, talk, and agree on a resolution.
BMA junior doctor committee co-chairs Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “We are prepared to continue with our industrial action, but we don’t have to – the prime minister has the power to halt any further action by making us a credible offer that we can put to our members. Refusing to negotiate with us and with our consultant colleagues is not the way ahead.
“Rishi Sunak now has nowhere to hide. There can be no more delaying, no more wasting time with impositions of pay deals, no more declarations that strikes must end before even stepping in the room with us. If he does not come to the table with a credible offer on pay, he will face another six months of strike action. And another six months after, and after that, if he continues to ignore us.”
The BMA is seeking 35% “pay restoration” to resolve what it says are 15 years of below-inflation wage rises. The government has imposed a 6% pay settlement plus £1,250 for junior doctors.
BMA consultants committee chair Dr Vishal Sharma said: “Never before have NHS consultants and junior doctors been forced to strike together for days on end, but that is where we have been brought by this government. They must act to address our pay erosion, so that the NHS is able to train the doctors that we currently have, and to ensure that we have enough consultants to train the senior doctors of the future.”
Health secretary Steve Barclay described the ballot result as “extremely disappointing” and said that the rest of the NHS workforce and patients were “shouldering the brunt of the BMA’s relentless strike action”.
“My door is always open to discuss how we can work together with NHS staff to improve their working lives, but this pay award is final, so I urge the BMA to call an end to this callous and calculated disruption,” he added.
HCSA junior doctors committee co-chair Dr Karim Salem said: “Steve Barclay and Rishi Sunak think they can just sit on their hands and wait for junior doctors to give in. But the crisis in our NHS is not going away.
“Years of underinvestment in staff has pushed waiting lists to an all-time high. We know that once again we will be left to try and cope as winter pressures mount. That’s why junior doctors are showing this incredible resolve in the face of such disdain for our health service and our profession.
“It may try to hide it, but the government knows this situation is untenable. Junior doctors, senior doctors, trust leaders and patients are all telling them. Our message is this: it’s not too late to do something about it.”
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “This is the nightmare scenario that NHS leaders have long feared, with junior doctors and consultants set to strike at the same time in September. This is a step too far and will cause unnecessary delays and distress to patients.
“Further industrial action is the last thing the NHS needs as we head into winter, so while we expected an extension to the BMA’s mandate, it will pile more pressure on local services and harm efforts to reduce waiting lists. While Christmas Day levels of cover has been promised, having both sets of doctors out at the same time will present huge operational challenges to the NHS.”
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