Young doctors in England will stage further strikes in December and January after negotiations between the government and the British Medical Association (BMA) collapsed.
It means the NHS is entering a new period of disruption at one of its busiest times of the year.
The announcement comes after the BMA reached an agreement with the government over the consultants last week. In October, trainee doctors and consultants staged a joint action that became the largest strike in the history of the National Health Service.
The deal councilors will now vote on calls for an average pay increase of almost 5 per cent in January, on top of the 5 per cent they received in April.
The BMA aims to increase the number of doctors in training by 35 percent to offset below-inflation growth since 2008.
When is the junior doctors strike?
The BMA said trainee doctors would strike for four days in December and a further six days in January.
The first stage begins at Wednesday, December 20, at 7:00. and ends at Saturday, December 23, at 7:00..
Then the doctors go on strike again Wednesday, January 3, 7 am. before Tuesday, January 9, 7 am..
How will this affect the NHS?
The strikes come at a busy time of year for the NHS. The first week of the year usually puts emergency services under particular pressure.
Previous strikes have caused thousands of surgeries to be delayed. Health officials said the strikes were also hampering NHS efforts to help people in need of urgent care, including cancer and heart disease patients and women needing caesarean sections.
The health service said a joint strike by junior doctors and consultants in England in October caused “significant disruption and risk” to patients. The strikes have not only impacted the service’s ability to care for people needing “urgent, urgent” help, but have also caused problems in emergency departments, NHS England warned in a letter to the BMA chairman.
However, in response, Professor Phil Banfield said the NHS should not have scheduled operations in the days leading up to strikes so that the service would be better prepared for a mass strike.
During strikes, patients are told that scheduled appointments may be cancelled, but they can still go to the emergency department or call 999 if necessary.
Why are trainee doctors on strike?
The BMA said the government’s latest offer of an average three per cent pay rise this year was “not credible”.
Co-chairs of the BMA Young Doctors Committee, Dr. Robert Lawrenson and Dr. Vivek Trivedi said: “From the very beginning of these negotiations, it was clear to us that we had to act quickly and that unless we had a credible offer, we would be forced to strike.”
“After five weeks of intense deliberations, the government has failed to make a credible wage proposal within the agreed time frame.
“Instead, we were offered an additional 3 percent, unevenly distributed across grades, which still amounts to a pay cut for many doctors this year.”
They added that “it is clear that the government remains unwilling to address the real cuts in doctors’ pay that have been observed since 2008.”
The co-chairs continued: “It is unfortunate that, despite a more constructive approach, there were not enough proposals to reach a credible agreement that we had hoped would end the dispute.”
“Without sufficient progress by the deadline, we will have no choice but to take action that will show doctors remain committed to ending the pay cuts.
“However, we can still avoid the need for these strikes. We are ready at any time if the government wants to talk. If a credible offer is made on the eve of or even during the action, these strikes may be called off.”
They said Health Minister Victoria Atkins’ approach was “productive, but ultimately it alone is not enough to offset 15 years of falling wages”.
The Health Secretary said the government would “immediately seek to return to the negotiating table” if junior doctors’ strikes were called off.
“It is disappointing that despite significant progress, the BMA Junior Doctors Committee has broken off negotiations and announced further industrial action which will cause more disruption to patients and further pressure on NHS services and staff as we head towards a stressful winter period and expose patients to danger. Health and safety. “, the message says.
“I have made it clear that I respect the work of junior doctors and want to work with them to resolve this dispute.
“We have agreed a fair and reasonable proposal with the BMA Advisory Board, whose members will vote on it after constructive discussions.
“If the junior medical board ends its strikes, we will immediately seek to return to the negotiating table to continue negotiations.”
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.