Hopes of an end to the junior doctors dispute were raised on Wednesday after it emerged that union leaders had held “constructive” talks with Health Secretary Steve Barclay.
Senior officials in the British Medical Association's (BMA) junior doctors committee held several hours of talks with Mr Barclay on Tuesday, shortly after the NHS Staff Council voted to accept the Government's pay offer.
Junior doctors have staged two rounds of industrial action in a bitter pay dispute, including a 96-hour strike last month. The union is seeking a 35 per cent pay rise to reverse what they calculate to be a 26 per cent cut in pay since 2008.
A BMA spokesperson said: “There is significant work to do, and both parties will meet again in the coming days. We are seeking urgent progress.”
Both sides had previously been at an impasse, with Mr Barclay branding the BMA's pay claim “unreasonable” and rebuffing calls to involve Acas, the independent conciliation service.
A Government spokesperson said: “The Government and the BMA junior doctors committee held a constructive discussion this afternoon, in preparation for talks aimed at resolving the current junior doctors dispute.
“Both parties will meet again in the coming days.”
Separately, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) on Tuesday night confirmed it would reballot members for a further six months of strike action after rejecting the Government's pay offer - despite a majority of health unions voting in favour of the deal. Unite have also vowed to keep striking.
The offer consists of a one-off lump sum with an additional 5 per cent pay rise for the next financial year.
While the union’s previous strike ballot was disaggregated by individual NHS Trust, the upcoming ballot will apply nationally. This means that nurses would walk out of every hospital in England during a potential strike.
The RCN’s chief executive and general secretary Pat Cullen told BBC News: “The Government knows only too well that nurses remain in dispute with this government, also junior doctors and a number of healthcare workers that are represented by Unite. So this dispute is far from over.”
Mr Barclay vowed to implement the pay deal for all staff on the NHS staff council.
He said: “Where some unions may choose to remain in dispute, we hope their members – many of whom voted to accept this offer – will recognise this as a fair outcome that carries the support of their colleagues and decide it is time to bring industrial action to an end.”
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, urged ministers to release the money for NHS staff as soon as possible and to ensure that local NHS leaders do not have to cover the increased cost from their existing budgets.
“Failure to do this would have an extremely negative impact on patient care at a time when there are still millions of people on waiting lists.
“The government promised previously that there will be no impact on frontline services or to the quality of care as a result of the offer, which must be reflected in the additional funding that now emerges.”
