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Doctors’ strikes in England are set to continue this week after they rejected Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s final offer to avert strikes before Christmas.
The British Medical Association said on Monday that resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – will be on strike for five days from 7am on Wednesday in an escalating dispute with the government over pay and jobs.
Jack Fletcher, chairman of the BMA’s resident doctors’ committee, said union members had considered Streeting’s offer, which included legislation to give UK-trained junior doctors priority access to specialist training posts over international medical graduates.
But their “brilliant response (in a vote) should leave the Health Secretary in no doubt how badly she has missed her opportunity to end the industrial action”, he said.
According to the BMA, around 83 per cent of resident doctors voted to go ahead with the walkout, while 17 per cent supported putting it on hold. Voting was 65 percent. The action was first announced on 1 December.
Health leaders have warned of the impact of the strikes as the NHS grapples with its worst flu season on record, as well as increased demand for ambulances and accident and emergency treatment.
Figures published by NHS England on Thursday showed an average of 2,660 people were in hospital with flu every day last week, a 55 per cent increase on the previous seven-day period.
Responding to the BMA’s announcement, Streeting attacked the strikes as “self-indulgent, irresponsible and dangerous” and said the government’s offer would “halve the competition for jobs and put more money in the pockets of resident doctors”.
He said, “I am appealing to the general resident doctors to go to work this week. The risk of striking at this time varies.”
Under Streeting’s offer, ministers promised to create an additional 4,000 specialist training posts over the next three years, with the first 1,000 in place by 2026.
The BMA has called for jobs improvements, but there was no proposal to increase pay, which remains the center of controversy.
The country’s main medical union is demanding a 26 per cent increase in salaries for resident doctors, arguing salary increases have been below inflation since 2008.
Last year, Streeting agreed a 22 per cent pay rise over two years with the BMA, promising to end the wave of walkouts from the health service when he took over.
Rory Deighton, director of acute and community care for the NHS confederation representing health managers in England, said the BMA’s decision to reject the proposal was “extremely disappointing”.
“These attacks have come at the worst possible time, with rapidly rising flu levels placing enormous pressure on hospitals,” he said.
