The British Medical Association (BMA) has rejected the Government’s pay offer.
As a result, junior doctors will continue to strike until Tuesday, July 18. They began their strike at 7am on Thursday, July 13.
Thousands of hospital appointments will be cancelled or rescheduled, and critical care will be prioritised.
A number of hospitals in London will be affected by the strike.
What was the pay deal rejected by the BMA junior doctors’ union?
The Government offered the junior doctors a pay rise of six per cent plus a £1,250 payment.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “We will not negotiate again on this year’s settlements, and no amount of strikes will change our decision.”
The BMA union is demanding a pay rise of 35 per cent for junior doctors.
What did the BMA say about the offer?
The BMA’s chair of council Prof Phil Banfield said: “Today’s announcement represents yet another pay cut in real terms and serves only to increase the losses faced by doctors after more than a decade’s worth of sub-inflation pay awards.
“It completely ignores the BMA’s calls to value doctors for their expertise by full pay restoration to 2008/2009 levels.
“With an NHS in crisis, seven-and-a-half million patients on waiting lists, chronic underfunding, and doctors being directly targeted with offers of work in Australia, this government should not be supporting pay uplifts which don’t reverse years of sub-inflation pay awards.”
What did the Government say about the offer?
At a Downing Street press conference, the prime minister said: “The Government has not only made today’s decision on pay.
“We’ve backed the NHS with record funding, delivered the first ever, fully funded long-term workforce plan, and met the BMA’s number one ask of Government, with a pensions tax cut worth £1 billion.
“So, we should all ask ourselves, whether union leaders, or indeed political leaders, how can it be right to continue disruptive industrial action?
“Not least because these strikes lead to tens of thousands of appointments being cancelled, every single day, and waiting lists going up, not down.”
