30.11.15
Junior doctor strike action ‘almost inevitable’ - BMA
This week’s strike action by junior doctors is now ‘almost inevitable’ the British Medical Association (BMA) has stated.
The union’s announcement comes ahead of the last day of talks with NHS Employers and officials from the Department of Health, before a 24-hour strike is due to start at 8m on Tuesday 1 December.
If the action goes ahead, striking junior doctors will only provide emergency care. But full walkouts are scheduled for 8 and 16 December.
Conciliation talks between the BMA, NHS Employers and the Department of Health have taken place since Thursday (26 November) in an attempt to avert the strike action.
Before entering the talks, the BMA warned that the health secretary must remove his threat of imposing a contract on doctors in training in England to defer Tuesday’s planned action.
Despite discussions between the parties, a resolution has yet to be found. Over the weekend Acas announced that talks would resume today (Monday 30 November).
But in a letter sent to BMA members, the union said: “As you will appreciate, given the importance of these talks to junior doctors and patients, since Thursday, we have concentrated our efforts on the talks, hoping that we may have positive news to communicate to you about the outcome.
“However, given the now almost inevitability that the action will need to proceed, I wanted to provide you with as full information as possible about our preparations for the actions and how it may affect each of you.”
After initially refusing to go to Acas following the junior doctor strike ballot, which revealed more than 98% of junior doctors voted in favour of full strike action, Jeremy Hunt wrote to the BMA last week saying “it is clear that any talks are better than strikes”.
Hunt did however add that the government has committed an extra £3.8bn next year to expand seven-day services and with that had to come reform of contracts.
Officials at Acas have been overseeing the first formal face-to-face discussions in 13 months between the BMA, NHS Employers and Department of Health civil servants.
In response to Hunt’s letter, Dr Mark Porter, the BMA’s council chair, said it was encouraging that the health secretary has made a significant shift in accepting the BMA offer of conciliatory talks through Acas, “finally recognising the fact that trust has broken down between junior doctors and the government”.
“We hope to start these talks as soon as possible in order to reach a collaborative agreement for the benefit of patients and the NHS,” he said. “Importantly, Mr Hunt must finally remove his threat of imposition to defer Tuesday’s industrial action.”
At the time, Danny Mortimer, CEO at NHS Employers, added that employers across the NHS welcomed a return to discussions with the BMA, working with Acas conciliation services.
He said: “I remain hopeful that through our joint endeavours we can end this dispute, and modernise the contracts for doctors whilst also addressing their concerns.”
For more information on the junior doctor row and to keep up to date with stories, access NHE's exclusive timeline of events dating back to 2013.