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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Martin Bagot & Dave Burke

Tens of thousands of junior doctors to stage three-day strike next month

Tens of thousands of junior doctors in England will strike for three days next month in an unprecedented step as a bitter dispute over pay deepens.

The British Medical Association (BMA) announced the massive walkout, which starts on March 13, this morning - saying it had no choice.

In a message to members,, Robert Laurenson, co-chair of the BMA's junior doctors committee, said: "We believe a 72 hour full walkout will show our resolve to the government.

"We're serious about full pay restoration and the sooner that's understood the better.

"We wouldn't be here if the government had come to the table to negotiate."

He said junior doctors had endured a 26.1% real-terms pay cut since 2008, and branded a 2% increase offer "insulting".

No10 said it was "disappointed" with the decision to strike, and claimed the government would be willing to hold talks - as long as walkouts are called off.

The 72 hour walkout is expected to see thousands of procedures cancelled (SWNS.com)

The BMA ballot saw an unprecedented 98% vote for strike action in a huge escalation of the pay dispute that will include emergency care.

The result grants the right to strike to 47,600 junior doctors and is expected to lead to cancellation of hundreds of thousands more operations.

Co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors’ committee, Dr Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said in a statement: “Make no mistake, this strike was absolutely in the Government’s gift to avert.

“We have tried since last summer to get each Health Secretary we have had, round the negotiating table.

“We have written many times and even as late as yesterday we were hopeful Steve Barclay would recognise the need to meet with us to find a workable solution that could have averted this strike.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay is under pressure to prevent the strikes (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

“The fact that so many junior doctors have voted yes for strike action should leave Ministers in absolutely no doubt what we have known for a long time and have been trying to tell them, we are demoralised, angry and no longer willing to work for wages that have seen a real terms decline of over 26% in the past 15 years.

“This, together with the stress and exhaustion of working in an NHS in crisis, has brought us to this moment.”

Junior doctors are on a different pay contract to most NHS staff and are in the middle of a multi-year deal.

They can typically remain ‘junior’ for 8-20 years, and this may be extended by doing research towards a higher degree. There are around 80,000 junior doctors in the NHS.

The BMA says junior doctors, who start on salaries of between £25,000 and £30,000, have seen real terms pay cut by 26.1% since 2008/09.

The Government has put junior doctors on a multi-year contract lasting from 2019 to 2023, separate to the rest of the NHS workforce.

It insists over the course of this contract junior doctors will have seen a 8.2% uplift, before inflation. It insists the end of the contract is the “appropriate time” to discuss pay.

However the BMA says the latest 2023 uplift is just 2% -at a time when annual inflation is currently 10.7%.

It says it invited Health Secretary Steve Barclay to pay talks twice in the past week but he declined.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "The Health Secretary has sat down with the BMA and discussed what is affordable and fair, that will continue."

He said that junior doctors had received an 8.2% pay increase since 2019-20.

He continued: "We've been clear that for that to happen we want to see strikes called off."

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