Resident doctors: crunch talks to take place as deadline looms

Crunch talks are to take place between resident doctors and the Government after ministers threatened to remove a key element of the deal currently on the table.

Sir Keir Starmer has given the resident doctors committee of the British Medical Association (BMA) a 48-hour deadline to reconsider the deal, which currently includes an offer of thousands of extra NHS training posts.

It is understood that the proposal will be removed from the deal if resident doctors in England press ahead with a six-day strike from April 7 in an ongoing row over jobs and pay.

The union said that it was seeking to talk with officials on Tuesday with “every intention of achieving a meaningful outcome that could see the strikes called off”.

Elsewhere the BMA has also announced that senior doctors in England are to be balloted over the prospect of industrial action.

The union said that simultaneous ballots of consultants and specialist, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors will run from May 11 until July 6 as both sets of medics escalate their disputes with the Government.

It comes after the Prime Minister accused resident doctors of “recklessly” walking away from the deal without putting it to members for a vote.

“The truth is this: no one benefits from rejecting this deal,” he wrote in The Times.

“Resident doctors will be worse off. Instead of improved pay, progression and support, they will receive the standard pay award this year, with none of the reforms that would have strengthened their working lives.”

Sir Keir wrote: “Walking away from this deal is the wrong decision. It is reckless. And doing so without even giving resident doctors the chance to vote on it makes it worse.

“Because the truth is this: no one benefits from rejecting this deal.”

He added: “So I say this to the BMA’s resident doctors’ committee: reconsider.

“Give members a say and put this deal to a vote.

“To resident doctors, I say this: make your voice heard. This deal improves your pay, your progression and your future. Do not let others decide for you.

“There are still 48 hours left to choose a better path. For patients, the NHS, and our doctors — I urge you to take it.”

The deal sets out how there will be a minimum of 4,000 new additional specialty posts, which will be delivered over the next three years.

NHS England boss Sir Jim Mackey confirmed that the offer to expand training places will “come off the table” without reaching an agreement.

He told LBC Radio: “The reality is that those extra training places cost money. If we’re going to be spending money on managing industrial action, pay for their colleagues, extra cover shifts, that money will disappear.”

Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the BMA resident doctors committee, said: “The Government made very late changes to the pay offer, reducing the pay investment and stretching it over a longer period in a way that had not been previously talked about.

“Ministers effectively moved the goalposts on the deal at the last minute.”

He added: “Removing potential doctors’ posts at a time when corridor care and GP queues are already putting the NHS under pressure, is clearly bad for patients.

“Creating posts and improving patient care should not be dependent on calling off a strike.”

Posting on X, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The BMA seems surprised that if they reject the deal on offer and go on strike their members don’t get what the Government is offering.

“We have time before Easter weekend to resolve this dispute.

“A deal on jobs and pay is on the table.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told broadcasters on a visit to Hertfordshire: “I don’t think he should be using training places as a bargaining chip. I don’t really understand why he’s doing that.

“I’d like to hear an explanation, because those training places, my understanding is that they are for patients, they are to increase patient support, patient safety, patient welfare.”

NHS leaders have said the strike action, which coincides with the Easter holiday, will be “challenging”.

In a letter to health leaders, Mike Prentice, national director for emergency planning at NHS England, wrote: “We expect this round to be challenging as there is a shorter notice period, bank holidays within the notice period and the action itself falling during the Easter holidays.

“This will represent a significant strain on staffing resources to provide safe cover.”

The walkout, which is due to start at 7am on April 7 and run until 6.59am on April 13, will be the 15th round of strikes by resident doctors in England since 2023.