Doctors in England to strike over pay dispute

Differences over pay have been cited as the reason for a five-day strike by doctors in the National Health Service, or NHS, in England, which will begin on Friday, the British Medical Association, or BMA, has confirmed.

The announcement comes despite five days of talks between the government and doctors, which Health Minister Wes Streeting told the BMA would continue only if the planned strike was called off.

The BMA said what the minister was willing to discuss was insufficient, and major issues still remained over its principal complaint, which is pay, so the action would go ahead. Streeting called this decision "reckless and needless".

"The BMA would have lost nothing by taking up the offer to postpone strike action," he added. "By refusing to do so, they will cause unnecessary disruption."

It is estimated that up to 50,000 staff members will join the action. Those taking part are resident doctors, who have completed their medical degree studies and are now receiving additional training in their chosen medical streams. They were previously known as junior doctors, a term that was dropped because of the implication of inexperience.

Resident doctors want a 29 percent pay rise, which they say would make up for wages having fallen behind in real terms over the last decade.

"We have always said that no doctor wants to strike and all it would take to avoid it is a credible path to pay restoration offered by the government," said Melissa Ryan and Ross Nieuwoudt, co-chairs of the BMA's Resident Doctors' Committee. "We came to (the) talks in good faith, keen to explore real solutions to the problems facing resident doctors today. Unfortunately, we did not receive an offer that would meet the scale of those challenges."

'Simplest means'

The duo went on to say that the BMA had "always been upfront that this is at its core a pay dispute… the simplest and most direct means of restoring more than a fifth of our pay that has eroded since 2008 is to raise our pay".

Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of hospitals' representative group NHS Providers, called the strikes "a crushing blow for patients and for the NHS".

"Trusts have been holding off (appointment) cancellations while there was the realistic prospect of a breakthrough," he added. "They will now be doing all they can to ensure there are fewer — and in some cases many fewer — cancellations than last time … unfortunately there will be some disruption for patients because of the need to provide cover."

NHS England management has told hospitals that wherever possible, non-urgent care should still go ahead, but BMA deputy leader Emma Runswick told the BBC this would be unhelpful and potentially dangerous. "Senior doctors cannot physically be in two places at once," she said. "We think the vast majority of planned and scheduled care should be shifted."