Strikes in the NHS could be on the cards in January after resident doctors in Scotland voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.
Resident doctors in Scotland could strike for the first time after a successful ballot by the British Medical Association (BMA). An overwhelming 92 per cent of resident doctors who voted opted for strike action with the union calling for a “credible offer” from the Scottish Government.
Strikes are now set to take place for four days in January unless a breakthrough can be made between ministers and the BMA. A two-year offer from the Scottish Government which would have represented a 4.25 per cent increase in 2025/26 and 3.75 per cent in 2026/27 has been rejected.
BMA Scotland said this would have been the lowest in the UK and was less than was recommended by the independent pay review body. The doctors’ union said there was still time to avoid strikes and called for the Scottish Government to return to the table.
Previous strike action has been avoided in Scotland, the only part of the UK not to see strike action by NHS workers, after last minute deals were struck. Chris Smith, chair of the BMA Scottish resident doctors committee, said members were “united in anger” that the Scottish Government had reneged on a pay deal agreed two years ago.
He said: “This is not where we wanted to be. However, we have sent a message loud and clear – the government cannot brazenly renege on its commitments without expecting to be held to account. Instead of negotiating with resident doctors to make credible progress towards pay restoration, as they agreed to do, they have imposed a pay uplift that is the lowest average award received by resident doctors anywhere in the UK.
“The deal that the Scottish Government agreed in 2023 was the only reason strike action which we have seen elsewhere in the UK has been avoided. It was working for doctors and the health service. By turning their backs on this deal, the Scottish Government [has forced this] dispute and knowingly putting the NHS in Scotland at risk of disruptive strike action.’
“We are simply asking for the government to deliver on what they previously promised, an offer which will provide a meaningful, continued and crucially credible step on the path towards addressing the pay erosion which resident doctors have suffered from since 2008.
“If they had kept to their commitment, and the trajectory towards pay restoration, this dispute could have been averted. And there is still time to avoid strikes – BMA Scotland resident doctors remain committed to the deal when it is being upheld in its entirety.
“However we will not accept and we will not allow the deal we struck to be discarded so carelessly. If we don’t take a stand now when the government has broken a commitment agreed to in good faith, they will take this as licence to do it again and again, including on issues such as contract negotiations and more training jobs for resident doctors as part of future medical workforce planning.
“This matters not just for doctors, but for patients and for the future of the entire NHS in Scotland, which relies on today’s resident doctors to stay here and become the GPs, specialist doctors and consultants of tomorrow.”
