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Junior doctors to strike nine days after starting work in NHS

Many of these doctors have already joined the BMA, and they are encouraged to participate in the strike alongside their new colleagues.

The four-day walkout will occur between August 11 and August 15.

Junior doctors from the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) also announced a strike during the same days. 

This series of strikes from junior doctors and consultants has led to tens of thousands of NHS appointments being cancelled.

Read More: Over 67,000 hospital appointments cancelled during consultants’ strike

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, said: “It should never have got to the point where we needed to announce a fifth round of strike action.

“Our message today remains the same: act like a responsible government, come to the table to negotiate with us in good faith, and with a credible offer these strikes need not go ahead at all.

“The Prime Minister has told us that talks are over.

“But it is not for Rishi Sunak to decide that negotiations are over before he has even stepped in the room.

“This dispute will end only at the negotiating table. If the Prime Minister was hoping to demoralise and divide our profession with his actions, he will be disappointed.

Read More: Minimum service levels during strikes become UK law

“Consultants, along with our specialist and associate specialist colleagues, have covered crucial services during our strikes and those same consultants were also on their own picket lines last week.

“Mutual solidarity has been on display at hospital picket lines up and down the country: this is a profession united in its refusal to accept yet another pay cut.

“Junior doctors are not going anywhere however much Government might wish we would. 

“The facts have not changed: we have lost more than a quarter of our pay in 15 years and we are here to get it back.”

Read More: UK public sector workers offered pay rises as government moves to end strike action

Health service leaders have urged an end to the dispute, pointing out that industrial action in England over the past eight months has resulted in 819,000 postponed appointments, operations, and procedures.

The government announced pay rises for millions of public sector workers, including doctors. 

The offer for junior doctors included a six percent rise and an additional consolidated £1,250 increase. 

However, the Prime Minister asserted that this was the "final offer," refusing any further negotiations on pay.

In response to the government's stance, BMA consultants announced further walkouts scheduled for August 24 and 25, right before the August bank holiday. 

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With the latest announcement from junior doctors, NHS England will experience six severely disrupted days in August.

Health minister Will Quince said: “This is a hugely disappointing move by the BMA, whose continued action will harm patient care and put further pressure on other NHS staff.

“We’re giving doctors in training a fair and reasonable pay rise, as recommended by the independent pay review body, with an average increase of around 8.8% which is above what most in the public and private sectors are receiving. 

“This is expected to increase average pay for NHS doctors in training by £3,800 to around £47,600.

“Our award balances the need to keep inflation in check while recognising the incredibly important work they do. 

“I urge the BMA to put patients first by ending their hugely disruptive strikes immediately.”

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