Resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, are set for almost a week of strike action after a breakdown in pay ngotiations with the Government
Junior doctors on strike outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in a previous walk out (Image: Birmingham Live)
Doctors working for the NHS are set for another walkout in a dispute over their pay.
The resident doctors, previously called junior doctors, will go on strike for six days immediately after the Easter weekend, and that will include at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Heartlands and Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield.
The doctors will walk out from 7am on Tuesday, April 7, the day after Easter Monday, through to 6.59am on Monday, April 13.
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The doctors are members of the British Medical Association (BMA), the trade union representing all doctors in the UK.
The BMA says it has been in walks of talks with the Government but without agreement.
It said the ‘BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) has determined that the Health Secretary’s final offer was insufficient’.
The latest strike will be the 15th in three years by the junior now resident doctors, with walk-outs under the Conservative and now Labour Governments.
Junior doctors protesting outside Downing Street, London.
The Government is said to have offered:
The 3.5 per cent Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration board figure plus reform to pay progression phased over three years.Plus exam fees – Mandatory Royal College exam fees reimbursed from April 2026 for resident doctors and LEDs (locally employed doctors).Training places: A minimum of 4,000 additional specialty training posts over three years, with a target of 4,500, with 1,000 brought forward to April 2026.Measures to improve the contractual arrangements for LEDs and progression opportunities for Locally Employed Doctors and Less Than Full Time doctors.Review of the implementation of exception reporting with a view of identifying alternatives to the geolocation and corroboration requirements that have proven problematic.And renaming of the GP Flexible Pay Premia to the General Practice Registrar Enhancement.
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But Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee has said the Government has ‘moved the goalposts’ during negotiations.
He added the latest pay offer means doctors’ pay will ‘barely tread water’.
He said: “We have been negotiating in good faith for weeks to try and end the simultaneous pay and jobs crises for resident doctors.
“Frustratingly we had been making good progress right up until the point, in the last two weeks, when the Government began to shift the goalposts.
“As talks progressed it became clear that the money proposed for pay increases was now going to be spread over three years.
“This is combined with today’s pay review body (DDRB) recommendation of a 3.5 per cent uplift pointing to yet more years in which our pay, at best, barely treads water.
“We have made abundantly clear throughout this dispute that our aim is pay restoration, and any deal that did not move us substantially in that direction was not going to fly.”
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Dr Fletcher continued: “We also cannot ignore that, thanks to global events, economic indicators now point to years of greatly increased inflation.
“We are simply not going to put an offer to doctors that risks locking in further erosion of pay at a time when doctors continue to leave the UK for other countries.
“We are not closing the door on talks. We remain willing to negotiate and are eager to get a deal done if we can simply recapture the early positive spirit of negotiations.
“No strikes need to happen, but Government will need to act fast to prevent them.”
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The Government said the resident doctors’ committee has rejected a ‘landmark’ offer it has put on the table.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “It is enormously disappointing for NHS patients and staff, that the BMA Resident Doctors’ Committee have rejected this offer.
“This government has pulled every lever available lever to put forward a generous package – developed in tandem with the BMA – that would have transformed the working lives and career prospects of resident doctors.
“I would like to thank the leaders of the BMA’s RDC for the constructive approach they have shown to the intensive talks we have had since the turn of the year.
“I am only sorry that this has not resulted in an agreement. The result is that resident doctors will be worse off.
“My door is always open to NHS unions that want to work with the government to improve the conditions of NHS staff.
“The historic deal on the table demonstrates what can be achieved when we work together, rather than be trapped in a damaging cycle of industrial action.
“It is for that reason that I am not giving up just yet. I’ve gone as far as I can and the government can afford, but it is not too late for the Committee to reconsider, and I urge them to do so.”
“My focus and that of leaders across the NHS will sadly now have to turn again towards protecting patients, staff and our NHS by minimising disruption from more needless strikes.”
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A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care added: “Resident doctors have missed out on the chance to vote on a landmark new deal for their profession, as the British Medical Association Resident Doctors Committee (BMA RDC) has rejected a historic deal put to them by the government to boost their pay, enhance their career opportunities, improve their working lives and put more money into resident doctor’s pockets.
“The government has already taken significant action to improve resident doctor pay and working conditions – delivering a 28.9 per cent pay rise over three years as well as accelerating legislation to prioritise UK medical graduates and others with significant NHS experience through the Medical Training Prioritisation Act.
“On top of this, since the start of this year the government has engaged in constructive talks with the BMA, culminating in a comprehensive new deal for resident doctors which was put to the BMA RDC this week.
“This deal was built on extensive discussions with the leaders of the RDC, who engaged in good faith.
“It is deeply regrettable that the committee refused their members the chance to have their own say and vote on the deal. ”
