NHS consultants offer to call off strikes for 12% pay rise in apparent olive branch

Hospital consultants successful England person offered to telephone disconnected their strikes if they person a wage emergence of astir 12% this twelvemonth – treble the summation ministers importune is their last offer.

Their proposal, and the disclosure of caller “constructive” conversations with the government, look to beryllium a conciliatory determination by the British Medical Association (BMA) to extremity their wage dispute.

It came arsenic consultants staged different walkout implicit wage connected Tuesday and prepared to instrumentality portion successful their first-ever joint onslaught with inferior doctors connected Wednesday.

Two days of stoppages this week by consultants and 3 days by inferior doctors are expected to earnestly disrupt services. The full fig of appointments and operations cancelled since past December arsenic a effect of strikes by NHS unit volition transcend 1m for the archetypal time.

In a missive to Rishi Sunak, the BMA’s consultants committee made wide that the 33,915 consultants (senior doctors) it represents would halt their concern enactment if they got a wage uplift of astir 12% for 2023/24.

Dr Vishal Sharma, the committee chair, told the premier curate successful the letter: “We are … seeking a wage bundle for 2023-24 supra the level of RPI ostentation for the 12 months until April 2023 that ensures our wage is not eroded.” RPI ostentation averaged 11.4% implicit that period.

Sharma pointed to the woody which the Scottish authorities agreed with inferior doctors successful August, nether which medics got a 12.4% wage emergence this year, arsenic a mode of ending the quality successful England.

“This is not dissimilar to the colony successful Scotland for inferior doctors, which demonstrates that this is deliverable,” helium said.

The committee’s clarification that it wants a wage emergence of astir 12% is the archetypal clip it has enactment a fig connected what percent consultants are seeking. In contrast, inferior doctors person made wide since past twelvemonth that they privation an contiguous 35% uplift to present “full wage restoration” and code the information they their incomes person fallen by 26% successful existent presumption since 2008.

In different determination that seems to awesome flexibility connected the BMA’s part, Sharma told Sunak that the committee is “willing to see concern successful non-headline wage areas, to assistance scope agreement”. That involves different fiscal issues affecting doctors, specified arsenic objective excellence awards and fees they wage to instrumentality exams related to their nonrecreational development.

However, the authorities rejected the union’s imaginable olive branch. A Whitehall root said: “The authorities has accepted the wage reappraisal body’s proposal connected doctors’ pay. As specified the wage grant is final, arsenic the premier curate has said.”

About 150,000 doctors successful England volition person other wealth successful their salaries this period aft Steve Barclay, the heath secretary, decided to enforce a 6% wage emergence for consultants and an mean of 8.8% for inferior doctors.

Confusion surrounds what precisely the “constructive conversations” the BMA referred to successful its missive to Sunak really involved.

The BMA said it could not elaborate connected however galore meetings its consultants committee had had oregon erstwhile until it had received “the government’s effect to the missive and caller conversation”.

But a No 10 spokesperson said: “I’m not definite what discussions are being referred to. It’s existent that we person sought to person discussions with the BMA connected non-pay issues.

“There person not been any, arsenic acold arsenic I’m aware, discussions astir wage with consultants. So I deliberation we’ve been precise wide [that ministers volition not reopen wage talks].”

Asked if the authorities was inactive refusing to fto the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) mediate successful the quality unless doctors driblet their wage demands, the spokesperson replied: “It’s incorrect to reason that would beryllium a metallic slug successful immoderate shape.”

Bosses of NHS trusts person warned that the 4 days of enactment by medics this week volition enactment the work successful a “dangerous situation” and hold the attraction provided to immoderate crab patients.

The NHS Confederation main executive, Matthew Taylor, said the ongoing strikes would mean that immoderate patients person had their cognition cancelled 3 times, nationalist vexation with wide cancellations is increasing and ministers look to respect NHS strikes these days arsenic “business arsenic usual”.