Last minute offer may avert next week’s doctor strike
A strike by junior doctors in England next week could be averted as ministers offer a new deal to the British Medical Association.
The doctors’ union agreed to present the proposal to members in the coming days; If they support it, the five-day work stoppage, which will start on Wednesday, December 17, can be canceled.
The proposal includes rapidly expanding specialized teaching staff and covering out-of-pocket costs such as exam fees.
However, it does not include the promise of extra fees. Health Secretary Wes Streeting is adamant he will not negotiate on the issue, given junior doctors (the new name for junior doctors) have received pay rises of almost 30 per cent in the last three years.
The agreement also includes the introduction of emergency legislation so that the NHS can prioritize doctors who have trained and worked in the UK for specialist training positions, which junior doctors will enter in their third year of training.
There was intense competition for these roles this year, with 30,000 applications submitted for 10,000 positions. Some of these will be doctors from abroad, who under current rules must be prosecuted on the same basis as doctors in the UK.
The number of specialist positions will also increase by 4,000, the first 1,000 of which will be available starting next year.
The BMA will now consult resident medical members in England on whether this offer will be enough to call off next week’s strike. A survey of members will be conducted online and closes on Monday, December 15.
The BMA said that if members indicated that calling off these strikes was sufficient, a formal referendum among junior doctors would follow, giving members time to consider the details of the offer and whether they should accept it and end the current dispute.
If a survey of members decides that canceling the strikes is not enough, the strikes will continue as planned next week.
Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the BMA junior doctors committee, said: “This bid is a result of thousands of junior doctors showing they are ready to stand up for their profession and its future.
“There shouldn’t have been strike action, but make no mistake: strike action is what got us to this point.
“We have forced the government to acknowledge the scale of the problems and respond with measures on training numbers and prioritisation.
“But this proposal does nothing to restore doctors’ salaries, which is within the government’s power to do.”
