Junior doctors across East Anglia enter final full day of strikes, as consultants prepare to walkout
More walkouts are planned
Last updated 17th Jul 2023
Hospital consultants have announced fresh strikes in the long-running dispute over pay in the NHS.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said consultants in England, who will strike on Thursday and Friday this week, will also walk out on August 24 and 25.
The BMA said its announcement was in response to the Government imposing "another real-terms pay cut" on doctors last week.
BMA leaders said the pay award amounted to a "derisory, sub-inflation" increase of less than 6% for consultants, once all elements of pay were considered.
Consultants in England had already announced strikes on July 20 and 21 unless the Government made an offer aimed at reversing the 35% pay erosion the BMA said they have experienced over the past few years.
The fresh strike will once again be based on Christmas Day levels of cover, meaning emergency care will still be provided.
Dr Vishal Sharma, who chairs the BMA consultants committee, said: "The Government has once again imposed a savage real-terms pay cut on consultants.
"When inflation is running at more than 11%, this is nothing short of insulting. Consultants have always been clear that industrial action is a last resort but in the face of a Government intent on devaluing consultants' expertise and their lack of regard for the impact this is having on the NHS, we have been left with no choice.
"We've had our pay cut year after year, put our lives on the line during a pandemic and now are managing a record backlog of care.
"The Prime Minister says cutting these waiting lists is a priority but then undermines his own policy by showing he doesn't value those charged with delivering it. Cutting pay once again shows the Government's complete disregard for the profession.
"Meanwhile, there can be no better demonstration of the need to reform the pay review system for doctors than our pay review body recommending a further real-terms pay cut on top of the successive pay cuts over the last 15 years, at a point when the profession has been pushed to take industrial action and are leaving the NHS."
The BMA warned that as well as next month's walkout, further dates will be announced in due course as consultants "are in this for the long haul".
The announcement was made as junior doctors in England continued with a five-day strike which ends on Tuesday.
Dr Ciaran Scott works at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, and is on strike: "More and more people, even some med students, are considering not going into the industry, because of the impact of working conditions, pay and the rewards they get from entering the industry...
"Being a doctor in 2023 we still want to be there for everyone we can, but it's becoming more and more challenging, both from a work perspective, and having to live day to day, paycheque to paycheque."
What does the government say?
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “We were in discussions about pay and a range of other measures to improve the working lives of junior doctors until their representatives collapsed the negotiations by announcing further strikes. A pay demand of 35% or more is unreasonable and risks fuelling inflation, which makes everyone poorer.
“Last week I held a round table with doctors in training to talk about other key issues that affect them so we can work together to make the NHS a better place for all. We recently published the first ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which includes measures to better support staff, improve training and double the number of medical school places by 2031.
“If the BMA shows willingness to move significantly from their current pay demands and cancels these damaging and disruptive strikes, we can get around the table to find a fair deal to resolve this dispute.”