About 350,000 appointments will be cancelled as junior doctors’ strike is set to bring disruption to the NHS
The co-chairman of the BMA’s junior doctor committee, Dr Vivek Trivedi, said Barclay was being disingenuous, saying his organisation has been trying to meet him for months, and that it would still suspend strike action if the government made a credible offer.
We were knocking on the health secretary’s door, asking to meet with him to negotiate a settlement to this dispute, long before the current strike got underway.
We have been in a formal dispute since October. He refused to respond and meet us until we had a strike ballot result. He has had months to put a credible offer on the table and avert industrial action, so for him to say, ‘It’s disappointing,’ is at best disingenuous.
It is extremely disappointing the BMA has called strike action for four consecutive days. Not only will the walkouts risk patient safety, but they have also been timed to maximise disruption after the Easter break.
I hoped to begin formal pay negotiations with the BMA last month but its demand for a 35% pay rise is unreasonable – it would result in some junior doctors receiving a pay rise of over £20,000.
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