BMA to continue with strike ballot despite calls to re-enter talks

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has amended the proposed contract that has led to the ongoing dispute, offering an 11 per cent basic pay rise and increasing regular working hours to 7:00pm on a Saturday instead of the proposed 10:00pm.

However, despite these changes, the BMA has claimed that the ‘headlines do not match the reality’ and that the new offer still doesn’t address safety concerns that the new contracts will leave doctors overworked and therefore unable to deliver the best quality of care.

The BMA’s decision comes despite calls to re-enter talks with Hunt. NHS providers has said that the latest offer gives a ‘firm basis’ for negotiations.

Chris Hopson, NHS Providers chief executive, said: “It is clear that the government has listened to the concerns of junior doctors. Our members have consistently told us the junior doctor contract needs to be reformed.

“In particular, that the pay banding system for junior doctors needs to be reviewed; that, as has happened in other sectors, pay premia for weekend and out of hours working need to be changed; and that, for junior doctors, pay should be linked to moving to a post with a higher level of responsibility.

“We would urge the BMA to return to negotiations in order to reach an agreement that is safe for patients and fair for doctors. Neither side wants a strike. The right way forward is a negotiated solution.”

Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director for NHS England, has urged junior doctors to pay ‘careful and considered attention’ to the new offer and start talks with Hunt again to get the specific details right.

Keogh said: “The only way to get this right is to talk, because getting the detail right will mean better options for those who deliver care and, consequently, safer care and better outcomes for our patients. It is particularly important for our patients and professional integrity that no action compromises urgent or emergency care in any way.”

However, The BMA maintains that the contract still unsafe and unfair and has criticised the Health Secretary for releasing the contract details to the media before sending them to doctors.

Dr Johann Malawana, chair of the BMA junior doctor committee, said: “Junior doctors need facts, not piecemeal announcements and we need to see the full detail of this latest, eleventh hour offer to understand what, in reality, it will mean for junior doctors.”

He added: “Without the reasonable assurances junior doctors require, the BMA has been left with little option but to continue with plans to ballot members on industrial action. This is not a decision we take lightly.

“However, the Government’s refusal to work with us through genuine negotiations, and its continued threat to impose an unsafe and unfair contract, leaves us with no alternative.”

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