Junior doctors threaten more summer strikes even if Labour win election

Junior doctors may strike throughout the summer if the next government does not move forward negotiations in a “timely manner”, medics have warned as they started a five-day walkout across England.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said it stands ready to negotiate and the union has already had some discussions with the Labour Party. Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting has promised to hold talks on 5 July if the party wins the general election, the union has said.

The BMA’s junior doctors committee said Mr Streeting’s previous remark that raising pay would be a “journey and not an event” align with their multi-year pay restoration goals.

Junior doctors in England have said their pay has been cut by more than a quarter over the past 15 years and have called for pay restoration – equivalent to a 35.3 per cent rise.

Junior doctor members of the British Medical Association protest in Downing Street (Photo: PA)

But Mr Streeting has said he will not meet that demand, saying that if he gave in then “any trade union worth their salt” would come back the following year with the same request. Despite that, Mr Streeting said there is “space for a discussion” on pay, as well as negotiations on how to improve working conditions for medics in training.

Senior BMA members have conceded the union had not pushed enough over the past 15 years, saying they had pinned their hopes on the independent pay review body, which sets doctor pay levels. They praised the “WhatsApp generation” for their determination and ability to mobilise “instantaneously” using the messaging app.

The latest walkout will mark the 11th strike by junior doctors in England since their dispute began 20 months ago. NHS leaders have raised concerns about the “major disruption” the strike will cause in the aftermath of a heatwave which prompted a yellow “heat-health alert” across much of the country. Junior doctors have said they will call off the strike if Prime Minister Rishi Sunak makes a credible commitment to restore their pay.

“We were hoping that maybe this would allow him to see how this could be a mutual win for both,” said Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee.

He said the current strike mandate ends on 19 September, adding: “If talks do not move in a timely manner, then of course our members would expect us to call for strike action. We have had three 98 per cent ‘yes’ votes to our ballots for industrial action to restore their pay because they know, unfortunately, words don’t mean anything unless it’s written down and action is taken to achieve something.”

Asked about talks with Mr Streeting, committee co-chair Dr Robert Laurenson said: “He is talking about things like ‘journey, not an event’ – we’re happy to have a multi-year pay deal. He has seemingly heard that and (his remark of) ‘journey not an event’ matches that.”

Dr Trivedi added: “The main thing that I’ve taken away from discussions is that there does seem like there is a willingness to try and at least engage in constructive and meaningful (talks).”

The BMA’s chair of council Professor Philip Banfield said: “It’s got to a point where doctors felt completely disempowered and what has happened is the juniors have got together and power of social media and WhatsApp, they started talking to each other and saying: ‘You know what, enough is enough’.

“The junior doctors are really good at communicating with each other via WhatsApp and that has been the key to the success of their strike action because the junior doctors committee can talk almost instantaneously with their membership – they can talk to 50,000 people really quickly and get instant reports back. I’d love to have an organisation that actually can do that. You’ve seen industrial action now go on for well over a year. It’s incredibly disappointing that this has gone this far.”

He added: “We have met with Labour several times over the last two years – we haven’t always agreed, we’ve had disagreements. So, do I expect the conversation to take place? Yes. Do I expect that conversation to be one that is easy or tough? It’ll be a tough conversation.”

Professor Banfield said Mr Sunak’s government “felt that although there was a probably a deal to be done with consultants and specialist doctors, that the junior doctors weren’t interested in a deal at all”.

“It just has felt as if government has wanted to do a deal with consultants first, which has cost them a considerable amount of money. Then done the specialists and they’ve just procrastinated over the juniors.”

The waiting list for non-urgent treatment in England, which stands at 7.6 million, is likely to worsen as a result of the latest strike, one expert told i.

Professor Alison Leary, London South Bank University Chair of Healthcare and Workforce Modelling, said: “The prolonged action by the BMA junior doctors’ strike is likely to impact on elective waiting times, however waiting times were already increasing even before Covid.

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“NHS workforce is a critical issue, with an increased demand for ever more complex treatment and care required for patients without the necessary experienced workforce needed to provide them.”

Some doctors are being asked to return to support cancer surgery in some south London hospitals which were affected by the recent cyber attack.

Ahead of industrial action by junior doctors NHS England’s national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis was asked about what is the strike going to mean for those patients who were affected by the cyberattack that disrupted hospital and GP appointments in south London.

He said: “We will see the impact in south London. That cyberattack has been an additional operational pressure on hospitals and other health services across that part of London.

“We have flagged that up to the BMA well in advance. We have been in talks with them and I am pleased to say the BMA have agreed that some doctors will return to support cancer surgery in particular in some of those hospitals in south London.

“We will continue to talk to the BMA during the strike action. We won’t hesitate to ask for further derogations, asking doctors to come back if we see operational pressures that we think are going to impact on patient safety.”

Junior doctors make up half of the medical workforce and their last walkout in February led to 91,048 appointments, procedures and operations being cancelled. The strike starts at 7am today and ends at 7am on July 2, just two days before voters go to the polls.

NHS leaders have said people should continue to use 999 in life-threatening emergencies and NHS 111 – on the NHS app, online, or by phone – for other health concerns.

Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at The King’s Fund think-tank, said: “An immediate challenge facing the next government will be resolving industrial action in the NHS which has lasted for well over a year now. It is difficult to comprehend how either the Conservative Party or the Labour Party can deliver on their manifesto commitment to recover NHS performance over the next parliament without first ending the dispute.”