Resident doctors in England announce five-day strike in November
Resident doctors in England have announced new strike dates, following the failure of the Government to offer a credible plan on jobs or pay.
The British Medical Association have been in dialogue with the Government throughout the summer and early autumn since the last walkout at the end of July.
The strike will run from 7am on November 14 to 7am on November 19.
Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee (RDC), said: “This is not where we wanted to be.
“We have spent the last week in talks with Government, pressing the Health Secretary to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.
“We know from our own survey half of second year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment, and shifts in hospitals go unfilled.
“This is a situation which cannot go on.
“We talked with the Government in good faith – keen for the Health Secretary to see that a deal that included options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the next four years.
“We hoped the Government would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help stop our doctors leaving the NHS.
“Better employment prospects and restoring pay – are a credible way forward that would work for doctors, work for Government and work for our patients.
“The Health Secretary’s 11th hour letter to us today makes vague promises for some degree of change to jobs and training for two years hence, showing little understanding of the crisis here and now, or a real commitment to fix it.
“While we want to get a deal done, the Government seemingly, does not, leaving us with little option but to call for strike action.
“That is disappointing, but it is not irredeemable. Wes Streeting inherited an NHS falling apart through decades of underinvestment, but restoring our pay over several years, along with concrete plans to create more jobs and training place would go a long way towards the start of a new and better health service.
“We need the Health Secretary to step up, come forward with a proper offer on jobs, on pay. We need him to embrace change and make an NHS fit for doctors and fit for patients.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The BMA are walking away from an offer to improve resident doctors' working conditions and create more specialty training roles to progress their careers.
“The BMA are blocking a better deal for doctors.
“These unreasonable and unnecessary strikes do not have the public's support.
“The BMA's reckless posturing will harm patients, leave other doctors and NHS staff to pick up the pieces and divert resources away from rebuilding the NHS.”
Rory Deighton, of the NHS Confederation, which represents health leaders, said: “We now have to prepare to mitigate the disruption of more strikes at the same time as they are getting ready for what is likely to be another very difficult winter, while continuing to bear down on their elective waiting lists.
“Ultimately, despite the best efforts to plan and put contingencies in place, it is patients who bear the brunt of industrial action, with more cancelled appointments, tests and operations leaving people waiting longer for the care they need.”