STRIKES by junior doctors across England’s NHS look set to continue after stubborn Tory ministers again refused to reopen pay talks today.
As the latest four-day walkout ended at 7am, Health Minister Will Quince insisted that wage negotiations are over, despite years of plummeting take-home pay.
He claimed to be “open” to discussions on other issues affecting the austerity-hit health service, including working environments.
Last weekend’s action was the fifth time that junior doctors, represented by the British Medical Association (BMA), have staged industrial action in recent months.
The strikes saw many newly qualified staff walk out just days into their working careers, having warned last week that they are fighting for the future of the NHS.
Another walkout is planned by senior doctors for later this month. The action is continuing despite most unions accepting an improved but still below-inflation NHS pay deal earlier this year since doctors are on a different contract.
Mr Quince told Sky News: “It’s hugely disappointing that both junior doctors and consultants are still taking industrial action.”
He praised the government for accepting last month’s recommendations from the sector’s supposedly independent pay review body, which saw doctors receive a salary rise of 6 per cent and a one-off £1,250 payment for 2023-24.
But the BMA has warned that, taking into account high inflation, the deal still represents a take-home pay cut and fails to make up for more than a decade of wage freezes for the essential workforce.
Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairmen of the union’s junior doctors’ committee, have accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay of growing “increasingly intransigent, belligerent and unwilling to talk about how we can end this dispute.”
Whitehall is “expending more energy on making spurious claims about the reasons for our legitimate campaign than they are about settling the dispute,” they said.
“Steve Barclay has singularly failed to make any significant steps towards ending this dispute and, as he continues to posture and pontificate, waiting lists go up and more patients see their treatment delayed.
“What he and the Prime Minister should be doing is getting back round the table with us to find a way of ending this dispute.”
