Potential strike dates

Hospital consultants in England will go on strike on 20 and 21 July if their industrial action ballot, which closes on 27 June, is successful and the Government continues not to make a credible pay offer.

Repeated real-terms pay cuts have seen consultants’ take-home pay slashed by 35 per cent since 2008/09. The BMA is demanding a fair pay award for 2023/24 and a commitment to redressing long-term pay erosion.

Two days of Christmas Day-level cover, meaning emergency services continue while routine services are paused, have been outlined as the proposed form of action.

The potential strike dates have been set out before the end of the ballot to give trusts and colleagues ample notice to prepare, given consultants’ roles cannot be covered by other staff.

BMA consultants committee chair Vishal Sharma said: ‘Strike action is not inevitable and it is well within the Government’s gift to present us with a reasonable offer that would stop industrial action. But if this isn’t forthcoming, we are committed to action that is effective and safe.

‘Consultants do not take decisions around industrial action lightly, but this isn’t just about pay – it’s about protecting the future of the NHS.’

Meanwhile, specialist, associate specialist, and specialty doctors in England have written to health secretary Steve Barclay calling for urgent talks to end the ‘appalling’ practice of excluding them from annual pay uplifts.

BMA SAS doctors overwhelmingly backed a motion to ballot members in England over whether to take industrial action to secure pay restoration. SAS doctors have suffered a realterms pay cut of a quarter in the last 15 years.

SASC UK chair Ujjwala Mohite said: ‘SAS doctors have quietly borne the brunt of working through enormous backlogs of care made worse by the pandemic, but without urgent steps to ensure they feel appreciated, their patience and goodwill will soon run out.’

It came as junior doctors in England prepared to undertake a third round of industrial action. When The Doctor went to press, a 72-hour strike was set to take place from 14 to 17 June.

A re-ballot is to take place from 19 June to 31 August in a bid to extend the BMA junior doctors committee mandate. Co-chairs Vivek Trivedi and Rob Laurenson said: ‘[Rishi] Sunak and [Steve] Barclay just don’t get it. Tell them again.’

Junior doctors in Scotland were voting on whether to accept a pay offer of 14.5 per cent over two years from the Scottish Government. The consultative vote closed on 12 June.

By Ben Ireland