Junior doctors must cancel strikes for pay talks, says UK government

Four-day strike set to affect patients in England next week as bitter compensation dispute continues

Junior doctors stage a protest over pay in London. PA

The British government has stated that pay talks with junior doctors will only proceed if the British Medical Association union calls off its planned strike, which is set to disrupt patient services next week.

Medics in England are planning to walk out in a bitter pay dispute, but the Department of Health and Social Care has insisted that the BMA must first call off the strike for negotiations to take place.

The union had suggested that a “credible” offer from Health Secretary Steve Barclay could result in the strike being suspended, but the department said that the BMA must show it is prepared to move significantly from its ask before negotiations can progress.

The co-leaders of the BMA junior doctors’ committee, Vivek Trivedi and Rob Laurenson, said they were ready to consider any credible offer from the minister that indicates his seriousness about resolving 15 years of “pay erosion”.

Health leaders have warned that patient care “rests on a knife-edge” before the strikes and have expressed concerns about being unable to provide safe care.

The NHS Confederation has said that health leaders are bracing themselves for the most significant strikes in a decade and have urged the government and trade unions to do everything they can to call them off.

Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said that health leaders are doing their best to mitigate risks and prioritise the most life-critical services.

“They want to send a reassuring message to their local communities but they are deeply concerned about not being able to provide safe care as they cannot rely on the same staffing levels as they have done with previous strikes,” Dr McCay said.

The four-day strikes will run from 6.59am on Tuesday until 6.59am on Saturday, April 15, immediately after the Easter bank holiday weekend.

The DHSC has warned that the strikes would risk patient safety and cause further disruption and postponed treatments, and that the BMA's demand for a 35 per cent pay rise is unreasonable.

The government has said that it wants to find a rapid solution that balances fairly rewarding junior doctors for their hard work with meeting the government’s ambition to halve inflation, and that talks need to be private, with both parties respecting the confidentiality of the process, as has been the case with other health unions.