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Resident doctors are staging a walkout – but are they justified in demanding higher pay?
Talks between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the government have broken down, triggering a five-day strike starting on Friday and the threat of monthly walkouts until a deal is reached.
The government has already awarded a 5.4 per cent pay rise this year, bringing salaries for foundation doctors to between £38,831 and £44,439, and up to £73,992 for those in specialist training. But the BMA argues this still falls short of where pay should be, after more than a decade of real-terms decline.
It is calling for pay to rise to between £47,308 and £54,274 for foundation doctors, and up to £90,989 at the top end of specialist training – a 29 per cent increase phased in over time.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has described the strike as “completely unjustified” and stated that the current pay offer is fair. But the BMA insists current salaries don’t reflect the demands of the job or the debt many junior doctors carry from medical school.
The NHS Confederation warns that each 0.1 per cent pay rise across the service costs an extra £125 million a year, and with 75,000 junior doctors in England, meeting the BMA’s request could run into the billions.
So, are resident doctors being underpaid – or is their demand simply unaffordable?
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