Junior doctors and consultants in England will take joint strike action for the first time over four days across September and October, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced.
The BMA said consultants will strike on 19 and 20 September with Christmas Day levels of cover, while junior doctors will also walk out on 20 September with similar levels of cover followed by strikes on 21 and 22 September.
Both consultants and junior doctors will strike again on 2, 3, and 4 October with Christmas Day levels of cover, in what the union said was the first joint strike between consultants and junior doctors in NHS history.
BMA junior doctor committee co-chairs Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “Today, junior doctors across England are sending a single message, loud and clear to the government: we are not going anywhere.
“We are prepared to continue with our industrial action, but we don’t have to – the prime minister has the power to halt any further action by making us a credible offer that we can put to our members.
“Refusing to negotiate with us and with our consultant colleagues is not the way ahead.”
The union said it was continuing action in the autumn against the “backdrop of a hugely understaffed and under-resourced health service”.
Lucy Letby: ‘Defensive culture’ in NHS meant concerns about killer nurse were not acted upon, says ombudsman
GP surgeries to face penalties for poor service under Labour, says Wes Streeting
Striking consultants apologise to patients over NHS disruption but ‘put blame at door of government’
It said the ballot for industrial action for junior doctors had been renewed for a further six months, with 98.4% voting in favour on a 71% turnout.
“Junior doctors and consultants have seen their pay drop in real terms by over a third in the past 15 years,” the BMA said.
It claimed that the government was refusing to enter talks with either junior doctors or consultants.
The latest strike action comes after junior doctors staged 19 days of walkouts across March this year, in a long running dispute over pay and working conditions.
