Junior doctor strikes will continue under a Labour Government if Sir Keir Starmer does not allow his Health Secretary to "negotiate in good faith", a union leader warned on Thursday as medics began a five-day walkout across England.
Dr Robert Laurenson, the co-chair of the British Medical Association's junior doctors committee, said that industrial action would continue if the Labour leader "repeats the mistakes" of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
His warning came as junior doctors mounted picket lines from 7am on Thursday morning for an eleventh round of strike action over pay since March 2023. The BMA are seeking a 35 per cent pay rise to correct a real term fall in income since 2008.
NHS London have warned of major disruption to planned services, but surgeons will be allowed to cross the picket line at hospitals affected by a Russian cyber attack to prevent “dangerous” delays to cancer care.
Health leaders have also warned that the aftermath of a 30C heatwave will place further pressure on hospitals, with a yellow heat health alert in place across the country until 5pm on Thursday.
Dr Laurenson told Sky News that the BMA was frustrated by the Government's delay in making a "credible" pay offer despite months of mediated talks.
"Our ask is for a credible commitment to pay restoration. We know that the Conservatives can't do a deal right now, but they can say what they will do if they form the next Government," he said.
"Mr Sunak has no plan and he needs to drop the rhetoric and start talking about pay. Sir Keir Starmer would do well not to repeat the mistakes of Mr Sunak and empower his Health Secretary to negotiate in good faith."
Dr Laurenson said that shadow health secretary Wes Streeting's comment that pay restoration for doctors was a "journey not an event" aligned with the union's ambitions for a multi-year pay deal.
"Junior doctors are paid around £15 per hour and we are asking for them to be paid £21 per hour. That is affordable. The Government has spent £3 billion on these strikes and pay restoration costs £1.3 billion. If an incoming Government under Sir Keir wants to continue lying, then it looks like strikes will have to continue as well."
On Wednesday, the BMA confirmed that surgeons working at Guy’s and St Thomas' NHS Trust and King’s College Hospital NHS Trust would be allowed to work through the strike to mitigate the disruption caused by a cyber attack by Russian hacking group Qilin on June 3.
The attack targeted Synnovis, a pathology firm which processes blood test results for the two NHS trusts and GP surgeries across south London. Hundreds of operations and appointments have been cancelled in the weeks since the incident.
In a joint statement, Julie Lowe, Deputy Chief Executive at King’s and Dr Simon Steddon, Chief Medical Officer for Guy’s and St Thomas’, said the incident was continuing to be managed as a “critical incident”.
“We have also put measures in place to ensure we limit the disruption to patients resulting from the industrial action this week and next. We are having to postpone a number of operations and appointments at present, and we would like to apologise again to those patients affected. Staff are continuing to do an excellent job in very challenging circumstances, for which they deserve enormous credit.”
NHS leaders have said people should continue to use 999 in life-threatening emergencies and NHS 111 - on the NHS app, online, or by phone - for other health concerns.
It comes as a leading think tank published data showing how much is spent on health by leading EU countries.
The UK falls behind Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, France, Austria, the Netherlands and Germany when it comes to health spending.
Indeed in 2022, Germany spent 55% more on health per head of population than the UK and France spent 26% more, according the Health Foundation's analysis of OECD data.
Toby Watt, lead economist at the Health Foundation, said: "The main political parties have said they want to fix the NHS, yet the funding they have so far promised falls well short of what is needed.
"This latest data from OECD show the UK is in the lower half of the EU14 when it comes to spending on health."
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said: "Last year, the Government accepted the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies in full which saw junior doctors receive a pay rise of between 8.1 per cent and 10.3 per cent. This was the most generous workforce settlement in the private sector.
"There is Cabinet Office guidance determining what is appropriate Government behaviour during the pre-election period. In line with the guidance, it would not be appropriate for Government to make a pay offer. The BMA know this but have refused to call off the strikes.
"The deals brokered with the consultant and SAS doctors committees show that we will always act in good faith to end disputes. Before the election was called, we had entered into negotiations with the junior doctors' committee overseen by an external mediator. We commit to getting back into the negotiating room immediately after the election and seek to reach a similar resolution with junior doctors."
