Strike action for resident doctors in England will go ahead this week after doctors resoundingly rejected a recently revised offer put forward by the Government.
Resident doctors across England will stage another full five-day walk out from this Wednesday following a vote on whether to delay action in light of the new terms put forward by the Department of Health.
The indicative poll, which closed today and saw a turnout of 65 per cent, saw 83 per cent of doctors vote to continue industrial action.
The vote was called following the Government’s announcement last week of a new offer on measures aimed at addressing the unemployment crisis among resident doctors.
Measures included increasing the number of new specialty training posts from 1,000 to 4,000 over the next three years, as well as a pledge to bring forward emergency legislation in the New Year to prioritise UK medical graduates for these posts.
BMA resident doctors committee chair Jack Fletcher (pictured above) said the results of the indicative poll clearly demonstrated the Government’s proposals had simply not gone far enough to address doctors’ concerns with the job crisis.
Patient safety
Dr Fletcher said that, while strikes planned for this week would regrettably have to go ahead, the BMA would remain in ‘close contact’ with NHS England to ensure patient safety is maintained during this latest period of industrial action.
He added that he and his colleagues on RDC would remain open to continued dialogue with the Department of Health on finding a way forward
He said: ‘Our members have considered the Government’s offer, and their resounding response should leave the health secretary in no doubt about how badly he has just fumbled his opportunity to end industrial action. Tens of thousands of frontline doctors have come together to say “no” to what is clearly too little, too late.
‘There are no new jobs in this offer – he has simply cannibalised those jobs which already existed for the sake of "new" jobs on paper. Neither was there anything on what Mr Streeting has said is a journey to restoring our pay – that has clearly hit the buffers.
‘This week’s strike is still entirely avoidable – the health secretary should now work with us in the short time we have left to come up with a credible offer to end this jobs crisis and avert the real-terms pay cuts he is pushing in 2026. We're willing to work to find a solution if he is.
‘We remain committed to ensuring patient safety, as we have done with all previous rounds of strike action, and urge hospital trusts to continue planning to ensure safe staffing. We will be in close contact with NHS England throughout the strikes to address safety concerns if they arise.’