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Government ‘has very small window to avert resident doctors' strike'
Government ‘has very small window to avert resident doctors' strike'

The Independent

timea day ago

  • Health
  • The Independent

Government ‘has very small window to avert resident doctors' strike'

There is a 'very small window of opportunity' for the Government and resident doctors to reach an agreement to avert strike action, the Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) has said. A five-day walkout is scheduled to start next week and could cause significant upheaval to the NHS in England. Co-chairs of the RDC – part of the British Medical Association (BMA) – said they had an 'open and frank' conversation with the Health Secretary on Thursday afternoon, but no resolution was reached. After the meeting Wes Streeting reiterated that 'we cannot move on pay after a 28.9% pay rise' but the Government is looking at ways to improve resident doctors' working lives. RDC co-chairs said working conditions are being considered but a pay deal is 'probably the simplest solution'. Neither the RDC or the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed a date for the next talks. Asked if they would meet with the Health Secretary on Friday, Dr Ross Nieuwoudt told reporters: 'Well, if Wes Streeting is free I'd be happy to.' His co-chair Dr Melissa Ryan said: 'The advantage of being a doctor is that we're used to working all hours of all days, so we said we're available at any moment to continue our talks.' Dr Nieuwoudt added: 'We have a very small window of opportunity over the next few days to avert strike action. 'Talks today have been constructive, they're a first step, it was a very high-level discussion, we're looking forward to more discussions to hopefully avert strike action.' After the meeting, Mr Streeting said in a statement: 'We had a constructive conversation with the BMA (British Medical Association) today and we'll be having further conversations in the coming days to try to avert strike action. 'While we cannot move on pay after a 28.9% pay rise, we are working on areas where we can improve working lives for resident doctors. 'Strikes have a serious cost for patients, so I am appealing to the BMA to call them off and instead work together to improve their members' working conditions and continue rebuilding the NHS.' Ahead of the meeting at Portcullis House, it was put to the RDC co-chairs that the public was 'broadly on-side' for the previous round of strikes but support is now 'waning'. Dr Ryan responded: 'I think that the public is behind us in the sense that they want to see doctors paid fairly, they want doctors to be in the NHS, doctors retained, because ultimately they want good care'. On Tuesday, NHS leaders said there was no extra money to cover industrial action by resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors. The last round of strikes, which also included walkouts by other health workers, came at an estimated cost of £1.5 billion to the NHS in England. Some 1.5 million appointments, procedures and operations were postponed as a result of the stoppages. On Thursday, The Times reported that it had seen an audit which found that five patients died as a result of disruption linked to strikes by junior doctors in 2023 and 2024. One prevention of future death report detailed how 71-year-old Daphne Austin, who had a kidney injury, died after getting 'no medical input' on one of the strike days because the consultant who was covering was in charge of 25 patients. Another states that 60-year-old John Doyle died of 'natural causes against a background of missed opportunities to diagnose and treat cytomegalovirus infection, together with the impact of the resident (formerly junior) doctors' strike on the provision of consistent patient care'. Asked if they recognise the report in The Times as true, Dr Nieuwoudt said: 'The evidence that we've seen, the evidence over the past few years, is that the processes that we have in place in order to maintain patient safety are robust and they've been working well, they've been the processes that have been in place since 2016 and over 11 rounds of industrial action.' He added: 'What you're seeing, instead of resident doctors in the hospitals, is the most highly trained and specialised doctors looking after acute patients. 'We just need to ensure that the (NHS) trusts are picking up their responsibility of cancelling elective services and moving those consultants over to where they're needed, which is protecting the patients in acute setting during industrial action.' The strikes ended last September when resident doctor members voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years. The 2025/26 pay deal saw resident doctors given a 4% increase plus £750 'on a consolidated basis', working out as an average rise of 5.4%. Government officials said these two increases equate to a 28.9% pay rise. But the BMA said resident doctors need 29.2% to reverse 'pay erosion' since 2008/09. Earlier this month, the union announced that resident doctors in England would strike for five days from 7am on July 25.

Government ‘has very small window to avert resident doctors' strike'
Government ‘has very small window to avert resident doctors' strike'

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Health
  • Yahoo

Government ‘has very small window to avert resident doctors' strike'

There is a 'very small window of opportunity' for the Government and resident doctors to reach an agreement to avert strike action, the Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) has said. A five-day walkout is scheduled to start next week and could cause significant upheaval to the NHS in England. Co-chairs of the RDC – part of the British Medical Association (BMA) – said they had an 'open and frank' conversation with the Health Secretary on Thursday afternoon, but no resolution was reached. After the meeting Wes Streeting reiterated that 'we cannot move on pay after a 28.9% pay rise' but the Government is looking at ways to improve resident doctors' working lives. RDC co-chairs said working conditions are being considered but a pay deal is 'probably the simplest solution'. Neither the RDC or the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed a date for the next talks. Asked if they would meet with the Health Secretary on Friday, Dr Ross Nieuwoudt told reporters: 'Well, if Wes Streeting is free I'd be happy to.' His co-chair Dr Melissa Ryan said: 'The advantage of being a doctor is that we're used to working all hours of all days, so we said we're available at any moment to continue our talks.' Dr Nieuwoudt added: 'We have a very small window of opportunity over the next few days to avert strike action. 'Talks today have been constructive, they're a first step, it was a very high-level discussion, we're looking forward to more discussions to hopefully avert strike action.' After the meeting, Mr Streeting said in a statement: 'We had a constructive conversation with the BMA (British Medical Association) today and we'll be having further conversations in the coming days to try to avert strike action. 'While we cannot move on pay after a 28.9% pay rise, we are working on areas where we can improve working lives for resident doctors. 'Strikes have a serious cost for patients, so I am appealing to the BMA to call them off and instead work together to improve their members' working conditions and continue rebuilding the NHS.' Ahead of the meeting at Portcullis House, it was put to the RDC co-chairs that the public was 'broadly on-side' for the previous round of strikes but support is now 'waning'. Dr Ryan responded: 'I think that the public is behind us in the sense that they want to see doctors paid fairly, they want doctors to be in the NHS, doctors retained, because ultimately they want good care'. On Tuesday, NHS leaders said there was no extra money to cover industrial action by resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors. The last round of strikes, which also included walkouts by other health workers, came at an estimated cost of £1.5 billion to the NHS in England. Some 1.5 million appointments, procedures and operations were postponed as a result of the stoppages. On Thursday, The Times reported that it had seen an audit which found that five patients died as a result of disruption linked to strikes by junior doctors in 2023 and 2024. One prevention of future death report detailed how 71-year-old Daphne Austin, who had a kidney injury, died after getting 'no medical input' on one of the strike days because the consultant who was covering was in charge of 25 patients. Another states that 60-year-old John Doyle died of 'natural causes against a background of missed opportunities to diagnose and treat cytomegalovirus infection, together with the impact of the resident (formerly junior) doctors' strike on the provision of consistent patient care'. Asked if they recognise the report in The Times as true, Dr Nieuwoudt said: 'The evidence that we've seen, the evidence over the past few years, is that the processes that we have in place in order to maintain patient safety are robust and they've been working well, they've been the processes that have been in place since 2016 and over 11 rounds of industrial action.' He added: 'What you're seeing, instead of resident doctors in the hospitals, is the most highly trained and specialised doctors looking after acute patients. 'We just need to ensure that the (NHS) trusts are picking up their responsibility of cancelling elective services and moving those consultants over to where they're needed, which is protecting the patients in acute setting during industrial action.' The strikes ended last September when resident doctor members voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years. The 2025/26 pay deal saw resident doctors given a 4% increase plus £750 'on a consolidated basis', working out as an average rise of 5.4%. Government officials said these two increases equate to a 28.9% pay rise. But the BMA said resident doctors need 29.2% to reverse 'pay erosion' since 2008/09. Earlier this month, the union announced that resident doctors in England would strike for five days from 7am on July 25.

Striking doctors willing to ‘discuss all options' to halt five-day walkout
Striking doctors willing to ‘discuss all options' to halt five-day walkout

The Independent

timea day ago

  • Health
  • The Independent

Striking doctors willing to ‘discuss all options' to halt five-day walkout

Resident doctors are willing to 'discuss all options' in crunch talks with the Government to avert strike action, the co-chair of the Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) has said. A five-day walkout is scheduled to start next week and could cause significant upheaval to the NHS in England. The RDC – part of the British Medical Association (BMA) – is meeting with Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Thursday afternoon. Discussions could be tense after Mr Streeting told MPs on Monday that he did not see a 'reasonable trade union partner' in the RDC 'at this time'. The Cabinet minister has insisted the Government will not budge on pay, but said discussions could focus on improving working lives of resident doctors. RDC co-chairs were asked if they would accept an offer on working conditions as they arrived for talks at Portcullis House shortly before 3pm. Dr Melissa Ryan told reporters: 'We're willing to be here and discuss all options with Mr Streeting, we're very flexible – we're just interested to hear what he has to say.' It was put to the RDC co-chairs that the public was 'broadly on-side' for the previous round of strikes but support is now 'waning'. Dr Ryan responded: 'I think that the public is behind us in the sense that they want to see doctors paid fairly, they want doctors to be in the NHS, doctors retained, because ultimately they want good care and that's what we're here to talk to Wes Streeting about today.' Dr Ryan's co-chair Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said: 'We're hopeful and we're confident that Wes Streeting is going to come to us with a credible offer to avert these strikes, that's what we're here for today, that's what we're looking to achieve. 'So now it's up to him, the ball's in his court, we're here to talk – hopefully those conversations will go somewhere.' On Tuesday, NHS leaders said there was no extra money to cover industrial action by resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors. The last round of strikes, which also included walkouts by other health workers, came at an estimated cost of £1.5 billion to the NHS in England. Some 1.5 million appointments, procedures and operations were postponed as a result of the stoppages. On Thursday, The Times reported that it had seen an audit which found that five patients died as a result of disruption linked to strikes by junior doctors in 2023 and 2024. One prevention of future death report detailed how 71-year-old Daphne Austin, who had a kidney injury, died after getting 'no medical input' on one of the strike days because the consultant who was covering was in charge of 25 patients. Another states that 60-year-old John Doyle died of 'natural causes against a background of missed opportunities to diagnose and treat cytomegalovirus infection, together with the impact of the resident (formerly junior) doctors' strike on the provision of consistent patient care'. The strikes ended last September when resident doctor members voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years. The 2025/26 pay deal saw resident doctors given a 4% increase plus £750 'on a consolidated basis', working out as an average rise of 5.4%. Government officials said these two increases equate to a 28.9% pay rise. But the BMA said resident doctors need 29.2% to reverse 'pay erosion' since 2008/09. Earlier this month, the union announced that resident doctors in England would strike for five days from 7am on July 25.

Health secretary to meet resident doctors in last-ditch bid to avert strikes
Health secretary to meet resident doctors in last-ditch bid to avert strikes

ITV News

time2 days ago

  • Health
  • ITV News

Health secretary to meet resident doctors in last-ditch bid to avert strikes

Wes Streeting will attempt to prevent a five-day walkout by resident doctors, formerly called junior doctors, set to start next week Crunch talks between Health Secretary Wes Streeting and resident doctors are due to take place on Thursday in a bid to prevent five consecutive days of strike action. The Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) - part of the British Medical Association (BMA) - says its demands for a 29.2% salary increase is needed to reverse "pay erosion" since 2008. It said this figure is based on Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation, the measure of average changes in the price of goods and services used by most households. If talks fail, resident doctors in England are due to go on strike for five days from 7 am on July 25. The last bout of strikes ended last September when resident doctor members voted to accept a government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years. Discussions this time around could be tense, after Streeting told MPs on Monday that he did not see a 'reasonable trade union partner' in the RDC 'at this time'. He has insisted the government will not budge on pay, but said discussions could focus on improving the working lives of resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors. In a joint statement issued at the weekend, RDC co-chairs Dr Ross Nieuwoudt and Dr Melissa Ryan said they were hoping to 'find a solution that our members will find acceptable and that can prevent any strike action having to take place'. What happened the last time there were doctors' strikes? A long-running wave of strikes began in March 2023 following demands by the BMA for a substantial pay rise for doctors. It said at the time that newly-qualified medics earned just £14.09 an hour, meaning they could earn more if they worked at Pret-A-Manger. The union argued that resident doctors' pay had fallen 26% since 2008-2009 in real terms and asked the government for pay restoration. After the previous Conservative government refused to come to the negotiating table, talks with the Department of Health following Labour's election victory in July 2024 was hailed as a positive step forward. In September last year, resident doctors accepted a government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years, bringing to an end more than a year of strike action. At the time, the BMA said 66% of their members voted to accept the deal; they also said the government had agreed separately to swap the term 'junior doctor' for 'resident doctor' to better reflect their expertise. The 2025/26 pay deal saw resident doctors given a 4% increase plus £750 'on a consolidated basis', working out as an average rise of 5.4%. Government officials said these two increases meant resident doctors had seen an average increase in pay of 28.9% over the last three years. In May this year, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it expected the average full-time basic pay for resident doctors to reach approximately £54,300 in 2025 to 2026 following the agreed-upon increase. However, the BMA has been pushing back, saying resident doctors need 29.2% to reverse 'pay erosion' since 2008/09. In September last year, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that NHS strikes in general had cost the taxpayer almost £1.7 billion since April 2023, adding that 1.5 million appointments had been cancelled. However, the DHSC later confirmed that the figure came from financial directions to NHS England and referred to the cost of all NHS England strikes in 2023/24, according to FullFact. This means the figure did not include resident doctors' strikes in June and July 2024, nor strikes in March 2023, when the dispute began.

Resident doctors acting in ‘unconscionable way' over strikes
Resident doctors acting in ‘unconscionable way' over strikes

The Independent

time4 days ago

  • Health
  • The Independent

Resident doctors acting in ‘unconscionable way' over strikes

The Health Secretary has said a member of his own family is waiting for an 'inevitable' phone call to tell them their NHS procedure has been postponed as a result of planned resident doctor strike action. Wes Streeting also said the British Medical Association (BMA) is acting in an 'unconscionable' way by telling members not to tell their employers if they are planning to strike. Mr Streeting said he 'cannot fathom' why 'any doctor in good conscience would make it harder for managers to make sure we have safe staffing levels'. And the Cabinet minister said that he does not see a 'reasonable trade union partner' in the Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) of the BMA 'at this time'. The comments come ahead of crunch talks between the union and the Government this week. Ministers have said they will not budge on pay but are willing to discuss other issues facing resident doctors. The BMA announced last week that resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – in England would walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on July 25 amid an ongoing pay dispute with the Government. 'We can mitigate against the impact of strikes, and we will, but what we cannot do is promise that there will be no consequence and no delay, no further suffering, because there are lots of people whose procedures are scheduled over that weekend period and in the period subsequently, where the NHS has to recover from the industrial action, who will see their operations and appointments delayed,' Mr Streeting told the House of Commons' Health and Social Care Committee. 'I have a relative in that position. 'My family are currently dreading what I fear is an inevitable phone call saying that there is going to be a delay to this procedure. 'And I just think this is an unconscionable thing to do to the public, not least given the 28.9% pay rise.' He went on: 'The other thing that I have found actually shockingly irresponsible about the BMA's position is their leaders seem to be telling their members not to inform their trusts or their employers if they're going out on strike. 'Now, I might not agree with the BMA strike action, but I do accept they have a right to strike. 'I do accept they follow the rules in order to go on strike. 'What I cannot fathom is how any doctor in good conscience would make it harder for managers to make sure we have safe staffing levels. 'So I just think the sort of the BMA's approach to this from start to finish has been completely wrong.' The Health Secretary added: 'And the idea that doctors would go on strike without informing their employer, not allowing planning for safe staffing, I think, is unconscionable, and I would urge resident doctors who are taking part in strike actions, do the right thing.' Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: 'It is correct that under current legislation a member of a union does not need to tell their employer if they are going to take strike action. 'But given the huge disruption and harm to patients caused by strikes we'd encourage doctors to help minimise the risk and help hospitals plan with the best information. Surely patients must come first.' Mr Streeting also said he was 'pleased' the BMA had taken up the offer of a meeting this week 'to see if we can avert strike action'. But he also told the committee there is 'no room for manoeuvre' on pay and that talks would focus on other ways to improve the working lives of resident doctors. 'I think it would be a catastrophic mistake for the BMA to throw all of that progress into reverse by walking out on strike,' Mr Streeting added. The Health Secretary said that resident doctors had 'chosen confrontation', and told MPs: 'I don't see a reasonable trade union partner in the RDC section of the BMA at this time.' He added: 'I do regret that they are in danger of squandering the opportunity of partnership in favour of a more adversarial approach, which is unnecessary and I fear will prove self-defeating, because if these strikes go ahead with the financial costs that are entailed, not to mention the misery inflicted on patients, we have to find that money from somewhere, and that will come at the expense of things that they value.' Mr Streeting said he was 'proud of the deal' struck with the BMA last year to end the previous tranche of walkouts. Meanwhile, NHS England boss Sir Jim Mackey told the committee: 'Everybody respects the right to strike, but this is hugely disruptive, much more disruptive than we've been able to describe so far.' He added: 'A lot of this narrow definition about what's 'technically necessary', I don't accept – it's not that straightforward and we won't be accepting that kind of process this time. 'So I really hope that this is avoidable, but we also can't allow this to play out in a way that it did last time, with a huge impact on people's lives, colleagues working in the service, a cancellation and a disruption of clinical pathways. 'There's a whole range of other disruption that comes with this that we must avoid at all costs.' The union has said that resident doctors need a pay uplift of 29.2% to reverse 'pay erosion' since 2008/09. In September, BMA members voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years. The 2025/26 pay deal saw resident doctors given a 4% uplift plus £750 'on a consolidated basis' – working out as an average pay rise of 5.4%.

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