A planned strike by junior doctors in England later this month could be called off if NHS bosses give permission for further time for negotiations, the British Medical Association has said.
The trade union for doctors and medical students announced the strikes after it said the government had “failed to meet the deadline to put an improved pay offer on the table”.
Now the BMA has written to the leaders of NHS Employers asking for them to increase the period during which it is allowed to hold strike action in order for further pay negotiations to take place.
In a letter to Danny Mortimer, the chief executive of NHS Employers, the BMA chair of council, Prof Philip Banfield, has asked him to agree to the extension, which he can do on behalf of hospital trusts.
He said in the letter: “In return for this agreement the BMA junior doctors committee is prepared to cancel the planned strike action for 24 to 28 February, providing space for the government to negotiate with us during the next two weeks.”
The BMA suggests that if NHS Employers agree to the request, it will allow the health secretary, Victoria Atkins, and the government more time to “present a credible pay offer” to junior doctors.
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The NHS is on its knees because of deliberate underfunding. It is only still going because NHS workers have taken a 25-35% real terms pay cut since 2010. It cannot recover off the backs of its workforce, not least because that workforce can easily find work elsewhere but the NHS cannot replace them.
The Tories are doing this because they want to privatise health care. Don't make it so easy for them.
what exactly am I doing to make it so easy for them? Not being optimistic about the situation? I'm not stopping anyone doing anything. Crack on. I just will not join in the "hurr, durr. Tories bad" circlejerk with the endless repetition of the same old widely known history and either sides talking points. It's the infantile r/unitedkingdom all over again.
I think you're all naive to think anyone is going to get anywhere with the current govt, theres a track record of this and neither side is willing to compromise. History has shown what happens in this situation in the UK. Nothing. Even if the protests/strikes develop into violence, we've seen what happens. Still nothing.
It's about time people get serious about the current situation and near future, because people are too damned optimistic, have too much faith in our politicians, of any party, and are going to end up seriously dissapointed.
Then it isn't realistic for the NHS to have junior doctors...
Though the Tories want nothing more than to finish off their destruction of the NHS, they still need enough of the working age population to have sufficient health to be in the workforce. As things stand, too many people cannot access healthcare in a timely fashion, and have had to leave work, with consequent impact on the similarly vandalised benefits system, and the nation as a whole.
This is not remotely sustainable, and their plans to privatise healthcare will only exacerbate the problem. Reversing the damage inflicted is the only way forward.
i think the tories have managed it. for me, im going to have to find money from somewhere to go private for something ive been waiting to get seen to for years