Strike action in December
Resident doctors in England voted to reject the Government’s last-minute offer and go ahead with December strikes as planned.
FY1 doctors will join other resident doctors on the picket lines from 17-22 December.
FY1s have a mandate to strike over jobs and pay, while other residents are striking for pay restoration.
We’ve been clear with the Government that we need sufficient progress on both issues. The Government’s latest offer moved forwards on jobs but not on headline pay.
The results
Residents in England were asked, ‘Is the most recent offer presented by the Government sufficient to call off December’s strike action and undertake a formal referendum on the offer?’
- NO - I vote for December's strike action to continue: 29,215 votes (83.2%)
- YES - I vote to call off December's strike action: 5,892 votes (16.8%)
- Number of eligible voters: 53,726
- Votes cast: 35,107
- Turnout: 65.34%
Strike action in November
Residents last went on strike in November – watch our wrap video below.
Vote YES in our re-ballot
With our mandate solely on pay restoration for other resident doctors coming to an end in January, we are now balloting all resident doctors over jobs and pay.
That means that if you are an FY1 doctor who voted for strike action over jobs and pay in September, this re-ballot includes you.
This will give us a single mandate that firmly unites all resident doctors - and shows the Government our collective strength.
It does not affect our existing mandates for resident doctors in England to strike again in December.
Keep an eye out for our orange envelopes landing and make sure to post your ballot paper back by 26 January.
The ballot will run from 8 December to 2 February.
Visit our ballot guidance page to find out more – and why it’s so important that you vote YES.
The specialty training places crisis explained
After completing their first two years as a foundation doctor, residents go on to train in specialities – from neurology to surgery, paediatrics to emergency medicine.
This training can last from three to eight years, depending on the specialty. Resident doctors go through a competitive application process before they can start their specialty training programme. Some programmes require doctors to complete a two to three year core training programme before re-applying to higher specialty training.
However, poor workforce planning by successive governments means there aren’t enough specialty training places for them to go to, stunting their careers and depriving the NHS of the staff it needs to get down waiting lists.
We’ve seen how serious these bottlenecks are. This year in the UK, there were more than 30,000 doctors applying in round one of specialty training, competing for one of around 10,000 places.
That means we have resident doctors – both fresh out of foundation training and later in their careers - who have spent years studying and want to work in the NHS, unable to find a job.
