JUNIOR doctors in England have rejected a new government offer aimed at ending the dispute over jobs and pay, saying it “does not go far enough.”
The British Medical Association (BMA) confirmed that junior doctors will strike for five days from 7am on November 14 to 7am on November 19, reported The Times.
Health secretary Wes Streeting had offered to cover junior doctors’ exam fees and “put more money in their pockets” to avoid the walkout. He wrote to the union on Wednesday with the offer and gave 24 hours to accept and call off the strikes.
Streeting said the rejection was a “missed opportunity”. He warned that if strikes go ahead, he would have to withdraw the offer as the government “won’t be able to afford it” because each round of strikes costs about £240 million.
His offer included funding exam and medical royal college membership fees, and boosting NHS speciality training places by 2,000 over three years. Ministers also proposed a consultation to prioritise UK doctors over foreign-trained medics when applying for NHS jobs, The Times reported.
Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee (RDC), said: “This does not go far enough. Even with this offer, thousands of doctors would still be unable to find a job — 30,000 doctors applied for 10,000 places this year. A thousand more is not going to fix this crisis nor come anywhere near doing so.”
He added that strikes could still be avoided but only with “a pay deal and a genuine solution on jobs”.
