TENS of thousands of junior doctor members of the British Medical Association (BMA) are holding a 72-hour strike from today until Wednesday.
At the weekend the leaders of the junior doctors issued a defiant response to a last-minute invitation from Tory Health Secretary Steve Barclay to enter into formal pay talks on Saturday.
The invitation, sent just before 10pm on Friday night, was made on condition that junior doctors accept a number of preconditions, including that all planned strike action must be called off, with immediate effect.
Co-chairs of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee, Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, wrote in response: ‘We remain open to entering talks with government anytime and anywhere to bring this dispute to a swift resolution and restore the pay that junior doctors have lost.
‘We would encourage you to reconsider the preconditions that are currently preventing talks from taking place.
‘As you have known for more than two weeks, our strikes will commence on Monday and you also know, until we have a credible offer, we are not in a position to call them off.’
Junior doctors have experienced a cut of more than 25% to their salaries since 2008/09.
The BMA said: ‘The lack of investment in wages by the government has made it harder to recruit and retain junior doctors, putting further pressure on the NHS and making it harder to deliver care to the standards expected by professionals.
‘The government continues to refuse to negotiate with the BMA on junior doctor pay restoration leaving us with no choice but to call for a NHS junior doctors’ strike.
‘The BMA Council has endorsed a proposal from the junior doctors committee for an escalated programme of industrial action by junior doctors in England, beginning with a full 72-hour walkout in March.
‘BMA junior doctors are taking strike action:
1. to achieve full pay restoration to reverse the steep decline in pay faced by junior doctors since 2008/9
2. to agree on a mechanism with the government to prevent any future declines against the cost of living and inflation
3. to reform the DDRB (Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body) process so pay increases can be recommended independently and fairly to safeguard the recruitment and retention of junior doctors.’