The British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee has accepted the government’s pay offer after two-thirds of the ballot voted in favour of the deal, putting an end to a dispute that has been ongoing since October 2022, leading to 44 days of strikes.
This move means the longest industrial dispute in NHS history is over – it is estimated that, since April 2023, NHS walk-outs have cost nearly £1.7bn and resulted in more than 1.5 million appointment cancellations.
The deal
The overall pay uplift for the last two years will average out at 22.3%. This comes from the additional 4.05% average increase for 2023/24, which was awarded on top of the previous 8.8%, meaning last year’s pay uplift totalled 13.2% on average.
The rest of the increase derives from the 2024/25 pay award announced in July, which gave junior doctors an average of 8% across all pay grades.
Health secretary Wes Streeting commented: “I am pleased that our offer has been accepted, ending the strikes ahead of looming winter pressures on the NHS. This marks the necessary first step in our mission to cut waiting lists, reform the broken health service, and make it fit for the future.”
After unprecedented periods of industrial action, this agreement is excellent news for patients, doctors and the wider NHS. It provides welcome certainty particularly as we head into what we know will be a very challenging winter. https://t.co/bVhhEeYxdM
— Amanda Pritchard (@AmandaPritchard) September 16, 2024
NHS Providers’ CEO, Sir Julian Hartley, described the announcement as “great news” after what has been a “disruptive, divisive and costly” dispute.
“It’s been a major distraction for trust leaders in their work to maintain and improve services at a time of extraordinary pressure on the NHS,” he said.
“Now there is a real opportunity to move on. It’s vital though that the agreement does not eat into trust budgets which are already severely stretched.”
More to come
Despite the uplift, the BMA highlights that doctors are still 20.8% behind 2008 rates in real terms.
Co-chairs of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said: “Mr Streeting has acknowledged our pay has fallen behind and has talked about a journey to pay restoration. He believes the independent pay review body is the right vehicle for this, and if he is right then no doctor need strike over pay in future.
“However, in the event the pay review body disappoints, he needs to be prepared for the consequences.”
As well as the uplifts, the government will work with the BMA to improve the process in which junior doctors report the extra hours they work. This is in addition to the Department of Health and Social Care leading a review of the current system of rotational training for junior doctors.
The DHSC will also work with NHS England to review the training bottlenecks currently in place for junior doctors, which are part of the reason for the shortage of consultants and GPs, according to the BMA.
In another change, ‘junior doctors’ will be referred to as ‘resident doctors’ from tomorrow in a bid to better reflect the expertise of the profession.
Image credit: iStock
