Trainee doctors could strike for three consecutive days in March, union leaders have threatened.
The British Medical Association (BMA) is demanding a 26 per cent pay rise for its thousands of medical students, from almost £30,000.
But the government refuses to back down despite months of pleas from the union.
BMA, which has been described as “militant” by critics, has accused Health Secretary Steve Barclay of ignoring his calls for negotiations.
The British Medical Association is backing a 26 per cent pay rise for junior doctors to allegedly make up for 15 years of actual pay cuts. A doctor in his first year currently earns £29,384, so he will earn around £7,800 more if the union’s demands are met. The numbers for older doctors in training will vary
Ballots will be sent out next week, with 72 hours of chaos planned for the spring when young doctors vote to strike.
This would lead to the medics, often referred to as the ‘backbone’ of the NHS, refusing to provide emergency care.
This is not the first time doctors in training have gone on strike if the campaign is successful.
In 2016, thousands turned out to protest against proposed changes to their NHS contracts by then Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
During the four days of the strike, junior doctors refused routine care, resulting in the cancellation of 300,000 outpatient appointments.
On the last day of the strike, the strikers also refused to provide first aid for the first time ever.
Formally, the dispute did not end until 2019, when the prospective doctors were offered a salary increase of 8.2 percent over four years.
Ministers have decided to keep the 2 per cent offer in this year’s pay review, with the formal deal due to expire next year.
Other staff, including nurses, received a 4.5 percent raise earlier this year.
The BMA said the decision “undermines morale among medical professionals”.
The BMA, which represents 45,000 trainee doctors, claims house pay has fallen by more than a quarter in real terms over the past 15 years.
Young doctors are paid around £60,000 in their final year after around eight years in post after qualification. They then become consultants.
The BMA’s pay entitlements would theoretically be around £7,800 more for doctors in their first year of training.
Dr. Vivek Trivedi and Dr. Robert Laurenson, co-chair of the BMA’s Young Doctors Committee, said: “It is particularly worrying for young doctors to see the government repeatedly justifying massive real pay cuts for NHS staff by claiming they are being paid by so-called ‘independents’. Wage assessor, free from government interference.
“The reality is that the Physicians’ Payroll Control Board has been constrained by political interference for over a decade,” they added.
“Even after recommendations were made to increase the salaries of junior doctors, the government completely ignored them and asked the Salary Review Board to completely exclude junior doctors from their recommendations,” they said.
This is not the first time doctors in training have gone on strike if the campaign is successful. In 2016, thousands decided to protest changes to their NHS contracts (pictured).
“When even the pay review process – broken as it is – is telling ministers to act, you know something has gone seriously wrong.”
Because strikes are also being considered by doctors in Scotland and Wales.
The nurses’ union, which is orchestrating chaotic NHS-wide strikes, tells the government it is meeting “halfway” to propose it will accept a 10% pay rise
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, urged the government to do the “decent thing” and meet them in the middle.
BMA Scotland announced in December that its junior doctors would be up for a possible strike in the first quarter of 2023 after pay negotiations with the government broke down.
And BMA Cymru has announced that doctors in Wales are considering strike action for the first time.
In the ongoing dispute over wages and staff, the rescue workers strike again next week.
The Royal College of Nursing is also holding its second phase of strikes on January 18-19 after the government “failed to act” following two days of action last month.
The action – the first in the RCN’s 106-year history – saw strikes at 63 NHS hospital trusts in England, as well as all trusts in Northern Ireland and all but one health authority – the Aneurin Bevan – in Wales.
Meanwhile, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy will announce a series of strikes in different parts of the country in the coming days after members of more than 100 trusts in England were given a mandate for union action last month.
Several other health unions are also consulting their members on union action amid pressure from the workforce and ongoing pay disputes.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
