Junior Doctors in England have turned down the latest Government pay offer and have announced they will be going on strike for three days in June.
It was hoped that the latest round of government pay talks would result in a breakthrough. However, there has been a breakdown in the talks and now patients will once again suffer. The strike by Junior Doctors which will affect hospitals around the country including in Grimsby, Hull, London, Manchester, Boston, Lincoln and Leeds will take place between 07:00 on Wednesday 14 June and 07:00 on Saturday 17 June.
A spokesperson for The British Medical Association (BMA) union, which represents doctors and medical students, has said the latest offer of a 5% pay rise was not “credible” However, a government spokesperson called the latest offer “fair and reasonable”. They went on to say it was “surprising and deeply disappointing” that the BMA had declared further strikes “while constructive talks were ongoing”.
The government has said that pay talks will only continue if the BMA called off the strikes.
The BMA has responded and said they are willing to continue talks for a credible offer but would not call off the strikes in June.
Even though this will be the third strike by junior doctors over the pay dispute and the last strike resulted in more than 170,000 operations being cancelled, the public still supports them. new polling by Ipsos reveals that more than half (54%) support the strikes.
The BMA has warned unless the government sees sense and offers a realistic pay deal then the strike will continue throughout the summer with a minimum of three days of strikes a month.
Ministers feel the BMA request of a 35% increase for Junior doctors is unrealistic.
