Resident doctors to strike
Resident doctors in England will strike from 7am on 7 April until 6:59am on 13 April.
This follows a vote from UKRDC to reject the latest offer from the Government.
Unfortunately, it became clear in negotiations that the money proposed for pay increases was now going to be spread over three years. This is on top of the pay review body (DDRB) recommendation of a pay uplift of just 3.5%.
Strikes can be avoided, but the Government must act fast.
Stronger together
Resident doctors returned a decisive ‘yes’ vote in their re-ballot in January.
This re-ballot unites all resident doctors, including FY1s, under one strong mandate as we continue the fight and pay.
- Number of individuals who were entitled to vote in the ballot: 54,432
- Number of votes cast in the ballot: 28,598
- Votes cast in the ballot as a percentage of individuals who were entitled to vote: 52.54%
- Number of spoilt or otherwise invalid voting papers returned: 17
Result of voting
- Yes: 26,696 (93.40%)
- No: 1,885 (6.60%)
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 nearly 40,000 applicants for training posts.
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.
The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act is a welcome first step in tackling the jobs crisis for resident doctors in England, but this will not fully solve the jobs crisis. We also recognise the impact the Act will have on non-prioritised doctors already working in the UK, and will continue to push for longer term contracts and proper protection for them. Find out more in our explainer.
