Junior doctors in England to stage fresh four-day strike in August over 35% pay rise demand

26 July 2023, 10:26 | Updated: 26 July 2023, 13:33

By EJ Ward

Junior doctors in England are to stage a four-day walkout from Friday August 11 to Tuesday August 15, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced.

It is the fifth time junior medics will have taken industrial action in their pay dispute with the government.

They want a return to a salary equivalent to what they earned in 2008 - which is equivalent to a 35% rise, which ministers have previously said is unaffordable.

In April Health Secretary Steve Barclay called on the union to drop the 35% demand and pause action but the union said it wants a "credible offer" before it does so.

The union said the walkout was the "next round of monthly strike action" as it called for the Government to return to the negotiating table.

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Speaking earlier to LBC News, Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chair of the British Medical Association’s Junior Doctors Committee

said he would ask: "Why does the government hate doctors, why does the government hate patients?"

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors' committee, said in a statement: "It should never have got to the point where we needed to announce a fifth round of strike action.

"Our message today remains the same: act like a responsible government, come to the table to negotiate with us in good faith, and with a credible offer these strikes need not go ahead at all.

"The Prime Minister has told us that talks are over but it is not for Rishi Sunak to decide that negotiations are over before he has even stepped in the room.

"This dispute will end only at the negotiating table. If the Prime Minister was hoping to demoralise and divide our profession with his actions, he will be disappointed.

"Consultants, along with our specialist and associate specialist colleagues, have covered crucial services during our strikes and those same consultants were also on their own picket lines last week.

"Mutual solidarity has been on display at hospital picket lines up and down the country: this is a profession united in its refusal to accept yet another pay cut.

"Junior doctors are not going anywhere however much Government might wish we would. The facts have not changed: we have lost more than a quarter of our pay in fifteen years and we are here to get it back."

A government spokesperson told LBC News: "We’ll issue our response to the latest strikes as soon as possible but it’s untrue to claim the government ‘hates doctors and patients’ - we hugely value the work of all NHS staff which is why we’re giving junior doctors, consultants, and senior NHS staff a fair and reasonable pay rise as recommended by the independent pay review bodies."