Resident doctors in England have called four days of strike action next month after meetings with new health secretary James Murray.
The BMA resident doctors committee said Mr Murray has ‘made it clear he will not improve the offer already rejected’.
That offer, rejected in March, included commitments to reforming the structure of pay scale nodal points and pay uplifts for doctors successful completing their annual review of competence progression.
However, RDC accused the Government of ‘moving the goalposts’ on the pay element of the deal at the eleventh hour, making it unpalatable to members – and a six-day strike in April was called.
Fresh strike dates have been announced today, with four days of industrial action planned from 7am Monday 15 June, ending at 6.59am on Friday 19 June.
'The same intransigence'
The RDC said ‘intransigence’ from the new health secretary left it with ‘no choice’ but to call further strike action.
BMA resident doctors committee chair Jack Fletcher said: ‘We had hoped that a change in leadership at the Department of Health and Social Care would lead to a change in approach. Sadly we have run up against the same intransigence and vagueness we encountered under Mr Streeting.
‘We were prepared to give Mr Murray time to settle into his role before completing the work his predecessor left unfinished – to both make a fair and meaningful pay offer and make concrete commitments to end the jobs bottleneck throttling the careers of our colleagues. He had a genuine opportunity to break this logjam with fresh energy and ambition.
‘He has not taken it. Instead, we are hearing the same tired line: vagueness on new jobs and no further money on the table. We cannot be asked to negotiate in good faith for weeks, only to be told there is nothing left to negotiate about on pay and no further details to come on jobs.
FLETCHER: Hoped fresh leadership would lead to change in approach
‘Thousands of doctors continue to leave the NHS, and take-home pay remains a fifth lower in real terms than it was in 2008. If Mr Murray wishes to make a success of his new role, he must confront this issue before any other.
‘We are prepared to accept that he may have inherited plans already in motion when he took office. If so, he now has a new opportunity to demonstrate genuine leadership and prevent further strike action. Our ask is straightforward: a credible, meaningful offer comprising concrete new jobs and real progress towards pay restoration.
‘Mr Murray arrives in this role directly from the Treasury, where his job was to weigh the costs and benefits of public spending. We would expect him, of all people, to understand that the costs of prolonged, avoidable strike action would far outweigh a deal that secured the future of the NHS workforce. The calculation is not a difficult one.’