Next week’s strike by resident doctors in England may be averted after ministers offered the British Medical Association a fresh deal.
The doctors’ union has agreed to put the offer to members over the coming days – if they support it, the five-day walkout starting on Wednesday 17 December could be called off.
The offer includes a rapid expansion of specialist training posts as well as covering out-of-pocket expenses such as exam fees.
But it does not include any promises of extra pay. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been adamant he will not negotiate on that, given resident doctors – the new name for junior doctors – have had pay rises of nearly 30% over the past three years.
The deal also includes emergency legislation being introduced so that the NHS can prioritise doctors who have studied and worked in the UK for speciality training posts that resident doctors move into in year three of their training.
This year there was intense competition for these roles with 30,000 applicants going for 10,000 posts. Some of those will have been doctors from abroad who under current rules have to be judged on the same basis as UK doctors.
The number of speciality posts will also increase by 4,000 by 2028 – with the first 1,000 of those available from next year. Previously, the government has promised an increase of 2,000.
The BMA will now consult resident doctor members on whether this offer is sufficient to call off next week’s strike. A survey of members will run online, closing on Monday 15 December, just two days before the strike is due to begin.
This move prompted anger from Streeting who had wanted the union to call off next week’s strike.
Ministers fear that by Monday hospitals will have already had to cancel a significant number of treatments as part of their preparations to get ready for the strike.
Streeting said he had offered to allow the BMA to extend its mandate, which runs out in the first week of January, so they could still stage a five-day strike if members did not back the deal.
Streeting said he was “astounded” the BMA had not agreed to this given the difficulties hospitals are facing from flu and other winter pressures, which he said meant “the spectre of strikes next week still looms”.
“I cannot understand the wilful casualness with which the BMA’s leadership have chosen to inflict this pain on patients, other staff and the NHS itself,” he said.
“It is one of the most shameful episodes in the long history of the BMA.”
He added: “The NHS leaders are going to have to start cancelling other doctors’ leave now to cover potential strikes, and patients will also experience unnecessary and avoidable disruption through some cancelled appointments and operations. That’s on the BMA.”
On the offer, he said: “Doctors asked me to deliver on jobs, especially unfair competition from overseas, and this comprehensive offer will deliver.”
BMA resident doctors committee chairman, Dr Jack Fletcher, said: “This offer is the result of thousands of resident doctors showing that they are prepared to stand up for their profession and its future.
“It should not have taken strike action, but make no mistake: it was strike action that got us this far.
“We have forced the government to recognise the scale of the problems and to respond with measures on training numbers and prioritisation.
“However, this offer does nothing to restore pay for doctors, which remains well within the government’s power to do.”
Streeting later said in the Commons he would retract the government’s offer if the BMA rejected it, so as not to “incentivise” further strikes.
Shadow Health Secretary Stuart Andrew said the strike was “unacceptable” and welcomed the government’s offer.
But he said the Conservatives had warned that providing “inflation-busting pay rises without any conditions at all” meant unions would “come back for more”.
“If they reject this, what’s going to happen? I’m not sure government is ready for this winter.”
The BMA argues that despite the pay rises of the last few years, pay is still a fifth lower than it was in 2008 once inflation is taken into account.
If members indicate in the online survey the offer is enough to call off next week’s strikes, a formal referendum of resident doctors would follow. This would give members time to consider the details of the offer and whether to accept it and end the current dispute, the BMA said.
If the survey of members decides it is not enough to call off strikes, they will go ahead as planned next week, the union added.
