Junior doctors announce 72-hour strike in March amid bitter pay dispute
24 February 2023, 12:50
Junior doctors have announced they will be striking for three days in March amid an ongoing pay dispute.
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The British Medical Association (BMA) said doctors had "no option" and would strike from March 13, having voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action earlier this month.
Junior doctors called on Health Secretary Steve Barclay to meet with them twice in the last week but no date was set, the BMA said.
A meeting with Department of Health civil servants earlier this week also yielded nothing in terms of progress, with the minister refusing to attend, the union added.
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The co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors' committee, Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said the blame for the strike action "lies squarely at the Government's door".
"Make no mistake, this strike was absolutely in the Government's gift to avert; they know it, we know it and our patients also need to know it," they said.
"We have tried, since last summer, to get each Health Secretary we have had round the negotiating table. We have written many times and, even as late as yesterday, we were hopeful Steve Barclay would recognise the need to meet with us to find a workable solution that could have averted this strike.
"We have not been told why we have not been offered intensive negotiations nor what we need to do for the government to begin negotiations with us. We are left with no option but to proceed with this action.
"The fact that so many junior doctors in England have voted yes for strike action should leave Ministers in absolutely no doubt what we have known for a long time and have been trying to tell them, we are demoralised, angry and no longer willing to work for wages that have seen a real terms decline of over 26% in the past 15 years.
"This, together with the stress and exhaustion of working in an NHS in crisis, has brought us to this moment, brought us to a 72-hour walk out.
"How, in all conscience, can the Health Secretary continue to put his head in the sand and hope that by not meeting with us, this crisis of his Government's making, will somehow just disappear?
"It won't, and patients and the public will continue to feel the brunt of his inaction, until he starts to negotiate with us and we agree a deal that truly values junior doctors and pays us what we are worth."
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Downing Street said the decision was "disappointing" and urged the British Medical Association (BMA) to return to the negotiating table.
A No10 spokesman said that junior doctors had received an 8.2% pay increase since 2019-20.
"We hugely value the work of junior doctors around the country and it is disappointing that they have taken the decision to engage in this strike action," he said.
"The Health Secretary (Steve Barclay) met recently with the BMA to discuss what is fair and affordable, and we would encourage the unions to continue with dialogue rather than strike action.
"We are continuing to talk with unions but that is obviously conditional that they don't take strike action."
