BMA considering indefinite junior doctor strike, leaked emails suggest

According to leaked emails reported by the Health Service Journal (HSJ), the British Medical Association (BMA) has discussed the option of an indefinite walk out, following next week’s all out strikes.

Under a list of proposals which suggest what action should come after the two-day strike (26-27 April), the option of an indefinite walk out has been called, which would start from June 8. In the email, Dr

Johanna Malawana, the BMA’s chairman, warned the committee’s chief executive should contemplate what might come next, including the possibility that junior doctors might walkout ‘forever’.

Among the list of considerations, includes a mass resignation of trainees; recommending doctors seek alternative employment, advising careers outside medicine, and ‘alternative forms of permanent action’.

Health Minister Ben Gummer said: "The BMA is now officially contemplating an indefinite suspension of potentially lifesaving care - that will worry patients all over the country. This is evidence of an organisation in total disarray and the action proposed shows a regrettable disregard for patient care. 

"While Johann Malawana now suggests negotiating about Saturday pay, had the BMA stuck to their agreement to do that in November, we'd have a deal by now and not a series of dangerous and damaging strikes.”

However, in a statement, Malawana argued: “What happens after next week's action is entirely down to the government. No decision has yet been made about future action but junior doctors will, of course, have to consider what options are open to them if the government refuses to re-enter talks.

"The crucial message, however, is this; it is not too late to end this dispute and call off next week's action entirely. For the sake of patients as well as doctors, the government must listen to concerns from all sides calling on it to lift imposition, sit down with junior doctors and end this dispute through talks."