NHS Scotland strikes: Junior doctors vote to strike with dates announced

Strike dates for junior doctors in Scotland are now set for July 12 to July 15

Hundreds of operations could be cancelled and emergency departments have been put on alert after Scottish NHS junior doctors voted “conclusively” to strike next month over a pay dispute with the Scottish Government.

The leadership of the British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland’s junior doctor committee confirmed three days of strike action would take place on July 12-15 “unless an improved offer that the BMA believes could credibly be put to members is put forward by the Scottish Government”.

During April’s four-day junior doctors strike in England, there were 195,000 cancelled appointments.

The leadership of BMA Scotland’s junior doctor committee today confirmed three days of strike action will take place on July 12 to July 15 “unless an improved offer that the BMA believes could credibly be put to members is put forward by the Scottish Government”.

At the peak of the action, there were 27,361 staff not at work due to industrial action. However, the workforce data collection was incomplete, so these figures do not represent the full picture.

In the previous junior doctors’ strike south of the border, there were 175,000 cancelled appointments across three days. With Scotland having around one tenth the population of England, the strikes are expected to lead to thousands of cancellations.

Health secretary Michael Matheson had previously said a junior doctors’ strike would cause “significant disruption”. He has warned all 14 of Scotland’s regional health boards to draw up contingency plans for industrial action.

Junior doctors in Scotland had previously been offered a 14.5 per cent pay rise over two years in an attempt to curb strike action, after BMA members voted for a 72-hour walkout in what would be their first national strike over pay.

The Scottish Government said the offer represented a £61.3 million investment in junior doctor pay, and would constitute a 6.5 per cent pay increase in 2023/24, as well as a 7.5 per cent uplift in 2022/23. The results of the consultative vote saw 71.1 per cent vote to reject the offer. The turnout was 66.3 per cent.

Dr Chris Smith, chair of the BMA’s Scottish junior doctor committee, said the union believed action could still be avoided if the Government came back to any fresh negotiations “with a better offer that convincingly starts to reverse the 15 years of pay erosion junior doctors in Scotland have endured”.

“Our membership has once again spoken decisively and clearly,” he said.

“It is beyond doubt that they do not consider this offer sufficient to begin the process of addressing the pay erosion we have suffered since 2008 – when pay for a junior doctor was some 28.5 per cent higher.

“That is why today, we can confirm that we are now forced to act on the incredibly strong mandate given to us by members in our preceding strike ballot and announce a full withdrawal of labour for three days from Wednesday, July 12.

“We are taking these steps reluctantly and indeed this start date is a longer pause than the two weeks’ statutory notice required in law.”

Dr Smith called for Mr Matheson to “come back with an improved offer and we can still avert the need for strikes and the disruption they will cause us all and patients”.

“The ball is now firmly back in the Government’s court and I hope they respond urgently and positively,” he said.

Mr Matheson said he was “disappointed” that junior doctors had rejected the deal and “decided on industrial action, which is in no one’s interest”.

“I respect the outcome of the ballot,” he said. “We negotiated in good faith, addressing concerns from junior doctors, but this was only the start of the journey, not the end.

“This was the biggest investment in junior doctor pay for the last 20 years and a step forward to modernising pay bargaining, restoring confidence amongst junior doctors and ensuring that their contribution to our healthcare system is appropriately recognised.

“My door remains open, and I will meet with BMA Scotland later this week to discuss how we move forward.”

Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the strikes were “the culmination of years of SNP mismanagement of our NHS”.

“Humza Yousaf has continually tried to defend his Government’s record by saying that there have been no strikes on his watch,” he said. “Now that excuse, which is as flimsy as his NHS Recovery plan, looks to be no longer the case unless the SNP Government can urgently find a solution.

“For all of Humza Yousaf’s shameless spin, the reality is that years of dire workforce planning by successive SNP health secretaries, including him, has left Scotland’s NHS in crisis and now that looks set to escalate.

“Patients who are already suffering will be deeply alarmed at the impact looming strike action will have on waiting times which are already too high on the SNP’s watch. Like many of my dedicated colleagues on the frontline, it is clear junior doctors are at their wits end.

“Michael Matheson has a duty to urgently address the poor conditions junior doctors are facing, such as guaranteeing they will get hot, nutritious meals at night and that rotas will be done six weeks in advance.

“The onus is on the SNP Government to get back round the table and find a solution to this dispute and deliver the modern, efficient and local health service that patients and staff need in Scotland.”

Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said the result was “an overwhelming rejection of the SNP Government’s failure to stand up for Scotland’s junior doctors and our NHS”.

“Junior doctors are central to the functioning of our NHS, but for years the SNP has failed to support them in their work,” she said. “The responsibility for this strike lies solely with Michael Matheson.

“Today I am urging Michael Matheson to get around the table with the BMA and act to avert this strike by providing fair pay and conditions for junior doctors.”