Junior doctors in England are set to stage a five-day strike just before the election in their ongoing pay dispute with the government.
Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) will walk out from 07:00 BST on June 27, a week before election day. The union announced the action, citing the lack of a credible new offer after fresh talks began in mid-May.
Ministers have accused the BMA of using cynical tactics by calling for a strike during the election campaign. The BMA has requested a 35% pay rise, arguing it is needed to compensate for 15 years of below-inflation pay increases. Junior doctors received an average pay rise of nearly 9% in the last financial year, and the BMA walked out of talks last year when an additional 3% increase was discussed.
This will mark the 11th walkout by junior doctors since their first strike in March 2023, with the most recent one occurring in February. The strike will involve junior doctors withdrawing from all services, necessitating senior doctors to cover, leading to significant disruption of elective services, including routine operations, just days before the general election.
Junior doctors make up nearly half of the NHS doctor workforce, with two-thirds being BMA members. BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr. Robert Laurenson and Dr. Vivek Trivedi stated, "We made clear to the government that we would strike unless discussions ended in a credible pay offer. For more than 18 months, we have been asking Rishi Sunak to put forward proposals to restore the pay junior doctors have lost over the past 15 years."
They added, "When we entered mediation with the government this month, we did so under the impression that we had a functioning government that would soon be making an offer. Clearly, no offer is now forthcoming. Junior doctors are fed up and out of patience. Even at this late stage, Mr. Sunak has the opportunity to show that he cares about the NHS and its workers."