‘Last-minute’ pay and contract offer to resident doctors

They were set to stage a four-day walkout from 7am on Monday – the 16th round of strike action since 2023.

But the British Medical Association (BMA) said on Saturday that a last-minute offer had been made, which will be put to members.

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Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the BMA’s resident doctors committee (RDC), said: “We have always been clear that no strikes needed to go ahead if we received an offer appropriate to put to our members.

“This should not have been left to the last moment, but we hold up our end of the bargain when the Government shifts its position.”

“All we have asked for is a fair offer that secures enough jobs to tackle the madness of doctor unemployment and take steps to address the erosion of our pay. Tens of thousands of frontline doctors will now vote in a referendum on whether this offer is sufficient.

“We will always negotiate in good faith and strikes are a last resort that we will only use in the face of complete Government intransigence. When Government moves, so do we.

“Doctors will now have their say. If they say no to this offer, we will have to continue our plans for further escalated action across next month.”

The offer is understood to include standard 2016 resident doctor contract terms for all locally employed doctors and an average 6.6% pay uplift to be fully implemented by April 2027.

Professor Frankie Swords, national medical director at NHS England, had said that the service faced a “triple whammy of pressure” as the planned strike would have coincided with warm weather and the World Cup.

Health Secretary James Murray said: “It is a positive and welcome development – especially for patients – that the BMA have called off these unnecessary strikes.”

He added that after a 28.9% pay rise for resident doctors over the last three years, “the country simply cannot afford to increase the pay offer for this year”.

Professor Ramani Moonesinghe, national clinical director for critical and perioperative care at NHS England, said: “It is extremely welcome news that the BMA has called off next week’s strike – for both patients and NHS staff.

“The BMA has recognised the positive changes we have made for both resident doctors and patients over the last year – but we are not complacent, we know more is needed and that working conditions have not been good enough, and we will continue to do more to make the NHS a desirable place to work.

“I want to thank staff across the NHS who have worked extremely hard to maintain care for patients throughout recent industrial action – and I really hope today is a positive step in the right direction to end strikes once and for all, while we continue to ensure the NHS is the best place to work for resident doctors now and in the future.”