Junior doctors threaten to strike again this summer if pay goals not met

Junior doctors in England began a five-day strike this morning (June 27) and they plan further strikes this summer.

They aim to strike again if the next government does not move forward negotiations with junior doctors in a “timely manner”.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said it stands ready to talk and the union has already had some discussions with the Labour Party.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has promised talks on July 5 if the party wins the General Election, junior doctors said.

Mr Streeting’s remark that raising pay would be a “journey and not an event” aligns with their pay restoration goals, the BMA’s junior doctors committee said.

Junior doctors in England have said their pay has been cut by more than a quarter over the last 15 years and have called for a 35% pay uplift.

Mr Streeting has said he won’t meet the 35% ask, saying that if he gave in to the demand then “any trade union worth their salt” would come back the following year with the same request.

He has however said there is “space for a discussion” on pay as well as negotiations on how to improve working conditions for medics in training.

Senior BMA members have conceded the union had not pushed enough over the last 15 years, saying they had pinned their hopes on the independent pay review body, which sets the pay of doctors.

They praised the “WhatsApp generation” for their determination and ability to mobilise “instantaneously” using the messaging app.

The latest walkout which began today marks the 11th strike by junior doctors in England since their dispute began some 20 months ago.

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NHS leaders have raised concerns about the “major disruption” the strike will cause in the aftermath of a heatwave which prompted a yellow “heat-health alert” across much of the country.

Junior doctors have said they will call off the strike if Prime Minister Rishi Sunak makes a credible commitment to restore their pay.

“We were hoping that maybe this would allow him to see how this could be a mutual win for both,” said Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee.

He said the current strike mandate ends on September 19, adding: “If talks do not move in a timely manner, then of course our members would expect us to call for strike action.

“We have had three 98% ‘yes’ votes to our ballots for industrial action to restore their pay because they know, unfortunately, words don’t mean anything unless it’s written down and action is taken to achieve something.”

Asked about talks with Mr Streeting, committee co-chair Dr Robert Laurenson said: “He is talking about things like ‘journey, not an event’ – we’re happy to have a multi-year pay deal. He has seemingly heard that and (his remark of) ‘journey not an event’ matches that.”

Dr Trivedi added: “The main thing that I’ve taken away from discussions is that there does seem like there is a willingness to try and at least engage in constructive and meaningful (talks).”

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The BMA’s chair of council Professor Philip Banfield said: “It’s got to a point where doctors felt completely disempowered and what has happened is the juniors have got together and power of social media and WhatsApp, they started talking to each other and saying: ‘You know what, enough is enough’.

“The junior doctors are really good at communicating with each other via WhatsApp and that has been the key to the success of their strike action because the junior doctors committee can talk almost instantaneously with their membership – they can talk to 50,000 people really quickly and get instant reports back. I’d love to have an organisation that actually can do that.

“You’ve seen industrial action now go on for well over a year. It’s incredibly disappointing that this has gone this far.”

He added: “We have met with Labour several times over the last two years – we haven’t always agreed, we’ve had disagreements. So, do I expect the conversation to take place? Yes. Do I expect that conversation to be one that is easy or tough? It’ll be a tough conversation.”

Prof Banfield said Mr Sunak’s government “felt that although there was a probably a deal to be done with consultants and specialist doctors, that the junior doctors weren’t interested in a deal at all”.

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“It just has felt as if government has wanted to do a deal with consultants first, which has cost them a considerable amount of money. Then done the specialists and they’ve just procrastinated over the juniors.”

Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at The King’s Fund think tank, said: “An immediate challenge facing the next government will be resolving industrial action in the NHS which has lasted for well over a year now.

“It is difficult to comprehend how either the Conservative Party or the Labour Party can deliver on their manifesto commitment to recover NHS performance over the next parliament without first ending the dispute.”

Half of the medical workforce is made up of junior doctors and their last strike in February meant 91,048 appointments, procedures and operations were cancelled.

When is the next strike?

The strike starts at 7am today (Thursday, June 27) and ends on Tuesday, July 2 - just two days before voters go to the polls.

NHS leaders have said people should continue to use 999 in life-threatening emergencies and NHS 111 (on the NHS app, online, or by phone) for other health concerns.