Resident doctors in Scotland will strike in January for the first time unless the Scottish Government presents a ‘credible offer’ on pay.
More than nine in 10 (92 per cent) of those who voted in a BMA Scotland ballot, which closed today, were in favour of strike action, on a turnout of 58 per cent.
Chris Smith (pictured above), chair of the BMA Scottish resident doctors committee, said members were ‘united in anger’ that the Scottish Government had reneged on a pay deal agreed two years ago.
‘This is not where we wanted to be. However, we have sent a message loud and clear – the Government cannot brazenly renege on its commitments without expecting to be held to account. Instead of negotiating with resident doctors to make credible progress towards pay restoration, as they agreed to do, they have imposed a pay uplift that is the lowest average award received by resident doctors anywhere in the UK.
‘The deal that the Scottish Government agreed in 2023 was the only reason strike action which we have seen elsewhere in the UK has been avoided. It was working for doctors and the health service. By turning their backs on this deal, the Scottish Government [has forced this] dispute and knowingly putting the NHS in Scotland at risk of disruptive strike action.’
Deliver on promise
He called on the Scottish Government to return to the negotiating table and present an offer the BMA believed could be put to members. Otherwise, resident doctors will strike in Scotland from 7am Tuesday 13 January to 7am Saturday 17 January.
‘We are simply asking for the Government to deliver on what they previously promised, an offer which will provide a meaningful, continued and crucially credible step on the path towards addressing the pay erosion which resident doctors have suffered from since 2008,’ Dr Smith added.
‘If they had kept to their commitment, and the trajectory towards pay restoration, this dispute could have been averted. And there is still time to avoid strikes – BMA Scotland resident doctors remain committed to the deal when it is being upheld in its entirety.
‘However we will not accept and we will not allow the deal we struck to be discarded so carelessly. If we don’t take a stand now when the Government has broken a commitment agreed to in good faith, they will take this as licence to do it again and again, including on issues such as contract negotiations and more training jobs for resident doctors as part of future medical workforce planning.
‘This matters not just for doctors, but for patients and for the future of the entire NHS in Scotland, which relies on today’s resident doctors to stay here and become the GPs, specialist doctors and consultants of tomorrow.’
The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.