The British Medical Association and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association have announced another 72-hour junior doctors strike in England in June after they failed to receive a ‘credible or reasonable’ offer from the government.
Junior doctor members of both the BMA and HCSA unions will walk out from 7:00am on Wednesday 14 June until 7:00am on Saturday 17 June 2023.
Following talks yesterday with the Department of Health and Social Care, the BMA confirmed further industrial action was necessary as negotiations were currently “unproductive”.
In a statement last night, Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, said: “Since April’s strikes we have had three weeks of negotiations with the government, seeking a deal that fully restores pay for junior doctors after the more than 26% drop they have suffered over the last 15 years.
“We entered these talks in good faith, hoping that after months of refusal by ministers to meet with us, we would finally see a real offer on the table that would avoid the need for more industrial action and stop the haemorrhaging of junior doctors from the NHS.
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“In that time, we have received an offer which is in no way credible or even reasonable for where we are in the negotiating process.”
HCSA president Dr Naru Narayanan said: “It is with no pleasure that we announce these fresh strike dates, but junior doctors have been left with no other option.
“The government remains totally unwilling to address the dangerous impact of severe pay erosion on staffing levels and retention. It has stuck doggedly to a single unrealistic pay offer of 5% for 2023-24, which reflects a cavalier and deeply disturbing attitude given the workforce crisis that our NHS faces.”
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “It’s hugely disappointing that talks between the government and the doctors’ unions have broken down again. We are now facing the deeply worrying prospect of another 72-hour walkout by junior doctors next month.
“As with previous strikes by junior doctors, this will lead to major disruption to patient care. We understand junior doctors feel they’ve been pushed to this point by factors including below-inflation pay uplifts and severe staffing shortages.
“Trust leaders will work flat out to ensure disruption is minimised on strike dates, but rapid resolution is needed at a national level to bring strike action to an end.”
She added that further threats of strikes this summer by nurses, radiographers and senior doctors mean it is “vital” that serious talks take place.
NHS consultants in England are currently voting on strike action in a BMA ballot that closes on 27 June. A consultative ballot that ended in March saw 86% vote in favour of strikes.
Trivedi and Laurenson added: “We made clear from the very start that talks required a recognition of the scale of our pay erosion. No such recognition has been forthcoming.
We made proposals showing our willingness to be creative and work with the government on how the reversal of our pay erosion could be achieved. In the end, however, the government would simply not accept the fundamental reality of the pay cuts junior doctors have faced” – BMA
“We made proposals showing our willingness to be creative and work with the government on how the reversal of our pay erosion could be achieved. In the end, however, the government would simply not accept the fundamental reality of the pay cuts junior doctors have faced.”
They added that they will continue to negotiate and still expect to meet with the health secretary Steve Barclay tomorrow, but ministers have said pay talks could only continue if the strike was called off.
A government spokesperson said the new pay offer was “fair and reasonable” and that it was “surprising and deeply disappointing” that the BMA had scheduled another strike while talks were ongoing.
The BMA has said that if the government does not change its position, junior doctors will strike for a minimum of three days every month until its mandate for industrial action runs out in August.
Junior doctors in Scotland are currently voting whether to accept the Scottish government’s pay offer comprising a 6.5% uplift for this year and an increase from 4.5% to 7.5%, backdated for 2022-23 – an aggregate pay rise of 14.5% over two years.
If they vote in favour, all industrial disputes in Scotland relating to pay in the NHS will be resolved.
Junior doctors in BMA Cymru Wales have accepted the Welsh government’s pay offer.
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This article was updated at 5:40pm with news that members of HCSA would be joining the junior doctors’ strike.
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