West Street is to offer resident doctors a bigger pay rise than other NHS staff as part of a new package of measures aimed at ending their long-running dispute.
The Health Secretary also plans to guarantee that hospitals in England will be fined if they do not provide good working conditions such as rest areas and hot meals for resident doctors.
Streeting is looking to make a series of improvements to his previous offers, which would see the British Medical Association (BMA) drop a nearly three-year campaign of industrial action.
Senior figures in the NHS who have been briefed on Streeting’s idea are hopeful that the measures he is finalizing will prove to break the deadlock before the third anniversary. 13th March 2023 First strike of doctors in current dispute.
The health secretary hopes to finally end the row by significantly improving the NHS-wide 2.5% pay offer for 2026/27 – but only for resident doctors – which the government last October insisted was the most it could afford.
Sources with knowledge of Streeting’s recent talks with representatives of the BMA’s Resident Doctors’ Committee say he is considering doubling that to at least 2.5%. Association of Doctors The figure was dismissed as “unverifiable”. And “a disgrace” when the Department of Health and Social Care First offered as evidence to The NHS Pay Review Body and the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Pay Commission.
The search for a solution has become more urgent since BMA announced on Monday The resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, voted overwhelmingly to continue the strike for another six months in pursuit of their demands for a 26% pay rise in the coming years, as well as more places to start training as doctors in their chosen medical specialty.
The A five-day walkout The resident doctors are on their 14th strike since March 2023 before Christmas. Each of the three five-day stoppages they have staged since Labor took power in July 2024 has cost the NHS £250 million.
Streeting is looking at introducing a system of financial penalties for hospitals that do not do enough to improve the working lives of resident doctors. NHS trusts do not give those doctors access to rest areas and hot food during their shifts – including at night – leading to the BMA’s long-standing complaint.
He also plans to address another major grievance among resident doctors, which is that those who work extra hours outside of their contracted hours should get paid for it or get time off instead.
Jim Mackie, Chief Executive of NHS England, A 10-point plan was formulated last year For hospitals to improve the working lives of resident doctors. However, both the BMA and Mackie are frustrated that some NHS trusts have been slow to make sufficient progress on issues such as rest and food, as well as payroll errors and the management of doctors’ rotas.
In a sign that street talks with the BMA are looking promising, Dr Arjan Singh, deputy chair of the union’s resident doctors’ committee, said He said on the BBC Radio 4 Today program on Tuesday As things progress, they are unlikely to call for further strikes in the near future, despite their new legal mandate.
“There is no intention of going on strike. It is a negotiating tool, but we have no intention of actually using it.
“We can pull the trigger and strike whenever we want, but that’s not the goal of the game. The goal is to get better pay and better conditions without strike action, hopefully,” he said.
Singh added: “We are on strike 14 [or] 15 times in the last two years, a lot. Ideally we can complete this without any further action.
A new poll conducted on Wednesday showed that the majority of people are against the strike by resident doctors on their demands. YouGov found that 52% of people in Britain do not support walkouts – down from 53% in a similar survey in December – and 38% support them, a figure unchanged.
YouGov asked 4,592 adults in Britain whether they supported or opposed resident doctors striking over pay and job insecurity. The survey was conducted on Tuesday after the BMA ballot results.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care denied the story and said: “We are not giving a running commentary on what has been constructive discussions so far.”
