Junior doctors could enter pay talks with the government imminently after ministers agreed a deal with other health unions.
Vivek Trivedi, the co-chair of the British Medical Association’s junior doctor committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he was optimistic discussions would begin in the coming days following the agreement between the government and unions including Unison, the GMB and the Royal College of Nursing.
As part of the deal that was announced on Thursday, health staff in England will get a 5% pay rise from April as well as a one-off bonus. Unions welcomed the government’s willingness to renegotiate pay, although questions remain over whether the extra money will be taken from existing NHS budgets.
Trivedi told Today: “It’s disappointing that it’s taken strike action to have meaningful discussion but it’s promising that they’re able to move forward and I only hope we’re able to do that in our own dispute.”
He added: “It does look like we’ll be able to set something up in the near future.”
Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, said junior doctors were being offered a similar deal to that made to other health unions. “I think the similar offer is on the table,” he said. “I think it would be good [for] the unions to meet with the health secretary as he’s offered, and I hope that we can resolve that issue as well.”
Trivedi’s comments come a day after the BMA exchanged letters with the health secretary, Steve Barclay, in a move seen as a precursor to begin negotiations, which could start as soon as Friday.
The two sides, however, remain some way off on exact terms. The BMA has asked the government to agree a 35% pay rise to make up for real-terms cuts since 2008-09 – something Barclay has called “not affordable”.
Barclay said on Thursday: “We have offered the same terms to the junior doctors that were accepted by the other trade unions and that is what I hope the junior doctors will respond to.”
Other health leaders on Friday expressed optimism this week’s deal might finally bring to an end the winter’s rolling strikes, which have led to cancelled appointments, delayed treatments and reduced ambulance services.
Rachel Harrison, the national secretary at the GMB, told the BBC on Friday: “What this pay offer essentially does is settle the issue of pay for the coming year. We will see what happens the following year when it comes to the pay review body process, and whether that is performed in a way that we would like to see.”
The government had previously budgeted for a 3.5% pay rise, leading to questions about where the extra funding would come from.
Harrison said unions had been told the extra money for this year would not come from existing health budgets. However, ministers have guaranteed only that “frontline services” will not be affected. A Treasury source said on Thursday they would have to pay for the rest through efficiency savings or bid for more funding in the coming months.
Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “We need to find that additional 2% for NHS budgets as new money, not from existing NHS budgets when the NHS is currently being asked to make significant efficiency gains already.”
Raab said: “That will be for the health secretary and the chancellor in the usual way to consider [but] I think the expectation will be the budget set there is enough resource.”
