NHS junior doctors around England have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action over pay.
Members of the British Medical Association have become the latest NHS staff group to vote in favour of strike action. The BMA announced that 37,000 doctors had submitted ballots, and 98% were in favour of strike action. That means this is the most junior doctors who have ever voted in favour of industrial action.
This comes as months-long industrial disputes between the Government and nurses, ambulance workers and physiotherapists show no sign of resolution. It is understood that junior doctors will now take part in a 72-hour long "full walkout" as soon as mid-March.
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BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “The Government has only itself to blame, standing by in silent indifference as our members are forced to take this difficult decision.”
The BMA says doctor's pay has fallen sharply over the past decade when set against inflation, with Drs Laurenson and Trivedi pointing to a 26% real-terms fall in wages since 2008. They said that this year's pay offer of 2% - with inflation at around 10% - meant junior doctors were "working more than a month for free".
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the ballot result was "deeply disappointing".
In December, Sunderland-based paediatric registrar Dr Martin Whyte - a deputy chair of the BMA's junior doctors committee - told ChronicleLive: ""When I used to speak to medical students or new junior doctors they would have asked things like 'I really want to do cardiology what do I need to do?'. But nowadays the most common question is how do I emigrate.
"They are burnt out, they are fed up, and thinking it's not worth it any more."
Following the ballot result, Dr Whyte said it was a historic moment and that he was "hoping government see sense and meet us at the negotiating table ASAP".
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