Junior doctors announce ANOTHER strike: Four-day August walk-out by the BMA will bring struggling NHS to standstill again

Junior doctors will take to picket lines again next month, with tens of thousands of appointments expected to be cancelled.

The British Medical Association (BMA) is coordinating the four-day walkout in England, which will run from 7am on Friday August 11 to 7am on Tuesday August 15.

It marks the fifth strike by the medics since March. 

The union said junior doctors, many of whom earn more than £50,000, ‘are not going anywhere’ in their bid for an inflation-busting 35 per cent pay rise. 

It comes after the Government this month confirmed that junior doctors, along with other public sector workers, would see their pay increase by around six per cent — labelling the figure a ‘final’ offer. 

Junior doctor members of the British Medical Association on the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London on July 13, 2023

More than 700,000 NHS appointments have been cancelled since strikes began seven months ago. In the latest five-day walkout by junior doctors, more than 100,000 were called off

The new strike dates come after a five-day walkout by junior doctors, which ended on July 18 and was the longest in the history of the NHS. 

The trainee medics have been awarded a pay rise of 6 per cent plus a consolidated payment of £1,250, which is equivalent to an average increase of 8.1 per cent.

But they have vowed to continue striking every month until they receive an inflation-busting 35 per cent.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the deal was the ‘final offer’ and that there will be ‘no more talks on pay’. 

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the BMA’s junior doctor committee, said: ‘It should never have got to the point where we needed to announce a fifth round of strike action. 

‘Our message today remains the same: act like a responsible government, come to the table to negotiate with us in good faith, and with a credible offer these strikes need not go ahead at all.

‘The Prime Minister has told us that talks are over. 

‘But it is not for Rishi Sunak to decide that negotiations are over before he has even stepped in the room. This dispute will end only at the negotiating table.’

They added: ‘If the PM was hoping to demoralise and divide our profession with his actions, he will be disappointed.

‘Consultants, along with our Specialist and Associate Specialist colleagues, have covered crucial services during our strikes and those same consultants were also on their own picket lines last week. 

‘Mutual solidarity has been on display at hospital picket lines up and down the country: this is a profession united in its refusal to accept yet another pay cut.

‘Junior doctors are not going anywhere however much Government might wish we would. The facts have not changed: we have lost more than a quarter of our pay in fifteen years and we are here to get it back.’

The latest strike by junior doctors ran from 7am on July 13 to 7am on July 18. They withdrew all care, including from cancer wards and A&E.

The five-day walkout saw more than 100,000 appointments and operations cancelled.

It comes at a time when more than 7.47million patients in England — the equivalent of one in nine people — are in hospital queues for routine ops like hip and knee replacements.

More than 7.47million patients in England – equal to one in eight people – were waiting for routine operations by the end of May – up by 56,700 in just one month

Junior doctor members of the British Medical Association on the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London on July 13, during five-day strike amid a dispute over pay

Consultant members of the British Medical Association on the picket line outside University College London on July 20

Members of the Society of Radiographers on the picket line outside University College Hospital in London on July 25

Hospital consultants on average incomes of £134,000 then launched a two day walkout on July 20 that saw more than 65,000 appointments and operations postponed.

And radiographers today began their second day of strike action at 37 trusts, which will end at 8am on Thursday, in a bid for more pay. 

Nine out of ten NHS hospital patients are supported by radiographers, who carry out X-rays, MRI and CT scans, ultrasounds and breast screening, as well as radiotherapy for cancer patients. 

Union representatives from each trust have agreed staff will provide ‘life and limb’ emergency cover for patients, which usually means the same staffing levels as Christmas Day and Boxing Day. 

Meanwhile, the BMA was this week accused of ‘staggering hypocrisy’ after offering its staff a lower pay rise than it is demanding for doctors.

A leaked email from the union’s chief executive sets out a ‘full and final offer’ of 5.25 per cent to its workers, plus a one-off payment of £1,000. It follows a meagre 2 per cent rise last year, amounting to a real-terms cut.

But when Rishi Sunak unveiled a pay rise of 6 per cent for medics earlier this month, the BMA described it as ‘insulting’ and ‘derisory’.

Many of the BMA staff, such as policy and support officers, are likely to earn less than the average pay of junior doctors.

A spokesman said it had made the offer ‘based on what is available’.

A Conservative source told The Telegraph: ‘This is staggering hypocrisy from the BMA to say that the 5.25 per cent pay rise offered to their own staff is full and final, whilst its members are continuing to strike despite having been given a rise of between six and 10.3 per cent.

‘This is just the latest example of the BMA leadership putting politics above patients in their quest for a pay rise almost seven times what they are willing to offer their own staff.’