Junior doctors in England will walk out for three consecutive days next month after voting overwhelmingly to take industrial action over pay.
The British Medical Association said Monday that as many as 47,600 of its members will withdraw all services, including emergency care, for 72 hours in March. It did not specify the exact dates. Industrial action was backed by 98% of votes, with a turnout of more than 77%.
The announcement came as ambulance workers staged another day of industrial action across England and Wales. Strikes across Britain’s NHS are showing no signs of abating with nurses also planning further strikes in March.
More than 400,000 health professionals now have a mandate to strike, nearly half the total number in the UK’s state-run service.
“The Government has only itself to blame, standing by in silent indifference as our members are forced to take this difficult decision,” said Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi, the BMA’s junior doctors committee co-chairs. “The road to recovery must start with Ministers listening to us and paying us what we’re worth.”
The government has insisted it won’t negotiate beyond the raises recommended by pay review bodies last year, infuriating union bosses who argue that the NHS is suffering from a recruitment crisis.
Newly-trained doctors are demanding a raise in excess of the 2% pay increase they received for the current financial year. Inflation in the UK remains above 10%.
Around 800 junior doctors from the HCSA, a smaller union, will walk out on March 15.
“As part of a multi-year deal we agreed with the BMA, junior doctors’ pay has increased by a cumulative 8.2% since 2019/20,” said Health Secretary Steve Barclay. “We also introduced a higher pay band for the most experienced staff and increased rates for night shifts.”
Barclay described the vote as “deeply disappointing.”
Professor Philip Banfield, the BMA’s most senior doctor, told a young doctors’ conference on Sunday that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay are on the precipice of an “historic mistake” in refusing to enter meaningful negotiations.
“This government, with its silence and disregard for our highly skilled and expert workforce, is consciously and deliberately overseeing the demise of the NHS at a point when it is needed most,” Banfield said.
--With assistance from Alex Morales.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
