LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Resident doctors in England voted to reject the government’s latest offer on working conditions, the British Medical Association union said on Monday, confirming that a five-day strike planned for this week would go ahead.
The doctors’ union – which represents resident doctors who are qualified practicians making up nearly half of the medical workforce – will stage a walkout from Wednesday as part of a series of strike actions that have taken place earlier this year over pay and working conditions.
“Tens of thousands of frontline doctors have come together to say ‘no’ to what is clearly too little, too late,” BMA chair Jack Fletcher said in a statement.
“This week’s strike is still entirely avoidable – the Health Secretary should now work with us in the short time we have left to come up with a credible offer to end this jobs crisis and avert the real terms pay cuts he is pushing in 2026,” Fletcher said, adding that the union is willing to work to find a solution.
Britain’s health department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The offer put made by the government last Wednesday did not include new pay terms, something the BMA has been campaigning for since the Labour party won last year’s election.
The strike will add pressure to an already stretched healthcare service after NHS England warned last week that hospitals were facing the “worst-case scenario” from a wave of a super flu.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has urged the doctors to call off the strike, saying they were “being irresponsible,” while Streeting has repeatedly been critical of the union’s decision.
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Catarina Demony)
Comments