NHS Resident Doctors (BMA) Strike Calendar
Strike Type: NHS
Latest Updates (4)
Resident doctors in Scotland are set to begin a five-week ballot leading up to Christmas to vote on potential strike action concerning pay.
If the vote is affirmative, these doctors might engage in their first strike action in Scotland early next year.
The ballot commences on Friday, November 14th, which coincides with the first scheduled strike day for resident doctors in England regarding pay restoration.
Scotland previously avoided such strikes in 2023 after the Scottish Government committed to making tangible advancement toward pay restoration.
However, formal dispute proceedings were initiated three weeks ago by resident doctors claiming the government has failed to uphold this promise.
The doctors feel that progress made in pay restoration over the past two years is being disregarded.
There is an expressed readiness to negotiate, but also a determination to safeguard the agreement reached in good faith with the Scottish Government in 2023.
Resident doctors in England are set to strike next month, following the Government’s failure to agree a credible plan for jobs and pay restoration. The BMA resident doctors committee England has announced doctors will stage full walk-out action from 7am on 14 November, while urging health secretary Wes Streeting to avert the action by returning to the negotiating table. The announcement comes after resident doctors leaders met with the health secretary on 13 October to find a way forward on addressing pay erosion and job shortages. RDC had hoped the dialogue would see the Government recognise doctors’ concerns by providing a mandate for a multi-year pay deal or by agreeing to targeted in-year improvements to resident doctors’ pay. In confirming the latest strike dates, RDC chair Jack Fletcher (pictured above) lamented the need for further industrial action, while stressing that the situation was ‘disappointing but not unredeemable’, and urging Mr Streeting to resume talks in good faith.
The BMA has called on the Government to ‘step up’, as resident doctors vote to back strike action over unemployment and training place shortages.
The vote, which saw 97 per cent of doctors endorse the option of striking, means that resident doctors in England now have a separate mandate for industrial action alongside that secured in the fight over pay restoration. The ballot, which had a turnout of 65 per cent, comes following a recent survey of more than 4,000 resident doctors by the BMA which found that 34 per cent said they had no substantive employment or regular work from August this year.
They said: ‘Doctors have spoken and spoken clearly: they won’t accept that they are worth a fifth less than they were in 2008. Our pay may have declined but our will to fight remains strong.
6 Strike Dates 0 Planned