Doctor Strike of five days will settle, says BMA

Friday, a five -day doctors’ strike will start in England with members of the British Medical Association will continue, according to the union.

Five days of talks between the government and the BMA had raised the hope of a breakthrough, focused on improving working conditions for resident doctors, the new name for subordinate doctors.

The Secretary of Health, Wes Streting, wrote in BMA earlier Tuesday saying that he would continue the talks if a strike action was postponed.

But the BMA said that what was to be discussed was not enough and that the best remuneration remained the key question.

Streting replied by saying that the union had “reckless and unnecessarily” opted for strike action.

The co -chairs of the BMA resident doctors committee, Dr. Melissa Ryan and Dr. Ross Nieuwoudt said they had tried to compromise during the talks.

“We have always said that no doctor wanted to strike and everything it would take to prevent it from being a credible route to pay the restoration offered by the government.

“We have come to good -faith talks, eager to explore real solutions to the problems facing the doctors resident today.

“Unfortunately, we have not received an offer that would respond to the extent of these challenges.

“While we were happy to discuss the unpaid problems that affect the finances of doctors, we have always been frank that it is basis a remuneration dispute.”

A range of various problems not linked to payment was discussed during last week after the streets clearly indicated that he could not move in wages.

This included the government covering the cost of compulsory examination fees which can reach several thousand pounds during medical training and give doctors more control over their place during their first two years of training and more advice from Rotas.

Ways to accelerate the progress of the career after the first two years of training have also been discussed. Resident doctors can spend 10 years or more to training.

The creation of a sort of student loans system for doctors, who can accumulate debts of up to £ 100,000 at university, was also raised by the BMA, but the BBC understands that the government was not ready to accept this.

Resident doctors obtained an average salary increase of 5.4% for this exercise, following an increase of 22% in the previous two years.

But the BMA claims that wages are still about 20% lower in real terms in 2008 and require “restoration of remuneration”.

Streetting said that the opportunity was with the BMA to work with us on a range of options that would have made a “real difference” in working conditions.

“The BMA would not have lost anything by taking the offer to postpone strike measures. By refusing to do so, they will cause unnecessary disturbance.”

He said resident doctors had increased the most generous compensation in the public sector for two consecutive years, saying that strike action was “completely unjustified” and demonstrated a “complete disdain” for patients.

This occurs after the BMA said that the NHS in England put patients at risk of prejudice in the next strike.

The union estimates that the NHS England plan to limit the number of canceled routine treatments will extend senior doctors covering too finely resident doctors.

The NHS England has only ordered hospitals to cancel non -urgent care, such as hip and knee operations, in exceptional circumstances.

The deputy chief of the BMA, Dr. Emma Runswick, told the BBC that the risky plan to cause a multitude of last minute cancellations and “at worst could be a risk and lead to damage”.

“Senior doctors cannot be physically in two places,” said Dr. Runswick.

“We believe that the vast majority of planned and programmed care should be offset.”

During previous strikes in 2023 and 2024, non -urgent work was canceled in large quantities so that senior doctors can covered with emergency and urgent services.

This came after the NHS in England told hospitals that the reservations of reservations and appointments would be “unfortunately essential” to maintain safe care.

In some hospitals, up to half of the planned care has been canceled.

But this new approach is supervised by Sir Jim Mackey, who became managing director of NHS England in the spring after Amanda Pritchard resigned.

NHS sources in England said it was determined to minimize disturbances, stressing that the cancellation of non -urgent work is also risking patients.

Dr. Runswick also defended the sums invoiced by senior doctors for having covered resident doctors during the strike. The BMA suggested that the consultants charge more than £ 300 per hour for night quarters.

Dr. Runswick said that sometimes the NHS should “encourage” doctors to hide outside their normal work.