Junior doctors in England will stage a four-day strike in April after talks with the Government failed to resolve a bitter row over pay.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said a 96-hour walkout will take place for shifts starting between 06.59am on Tuesday April 11 and 06.59am on Saturday April 15. The BMA said Health Secretary Steve Barclay had failed to make any “credible offer”, accusing the Government of not being serious about resolving the dispute.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA junior doctor committee, said: “It is with disappointment and great frustration that we must announce this new industrial action. The Government has dragged its feet at every opportunity. It has not presented any credible offer and is refusing to accept that there is any case for pay restoration, describing our central ask as ‘unrealistic’ and ‘unreasonable’.
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“Even yesterday they continued to add new unacceptable pre-conditions to talks instead of getting on and trying to find a resolution. We therefore have no confidence that without further action these negotiations can be successful.
“This situation is entirely of the Government’s own making. We want to spend our time looking after patients, not on strike, but with an NHS buckling under a workforce crisis, and four in 10 junior doctors looking to leave, we can’t stand by while our pay is further eroded by inflation and an intransigent Government.
“We are not going to stop until we are paid what we are worth, and if ministers don’t accept that when we tell them in person, we will have to tell them from the picket line.”
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers, said: “The prospect of a 96-hour strike by junior doctors will ring alarm bells for trust leaders up and down the country. It would immediately follow a four-day bank holiday weekend, meaning demand will have piled up before the strike even begins on April 11. There will also be no exemptions.
“This threatens the biggest disruption from NHS walkouts so far. There should be no doubt about the scale of the impact on patients, staff and the NHS. No-one wants this. It’s hugely disappointing that talks between the Government and the doctors’ unions have broken down.
“Trust leaders understand why junior doctors feel they’ve been pushed to this point, but it’s incumbent on all involved to urgently re-enter talks in good faith.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Further strikes will risk patient safety and cause further disruption. The Health and Social Care Secretary met the BMA’s junior doctors committee yesterday in the hope of beginning constructive talks to resolve the current dispute.
“The BMA placed a pre-condition on these talks of a 35% pay rise. That is unreasonable. Our door remains open to constructive conversations, as we have had with other health unions, to find a realistic way forward which balances rewarding junior doctors for their hard work while being fair to the taxpayer.”
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