Government and NHS doctors to reopen talks over pay

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The UK government has agreed to meet senior NHS doctors after they offered to hold off from further strike action in exchange for discussions over pay.

Health secretary Steve Barclay would hold talks “in the hope we will find a resolution and end the dispute”, his department announced on Tuesday.

Consultants represented by the British Medical Association have carried out a number of strikes across the NHS since December while calling on the government to improve its pay offer to all doctors.

Ministers have continued to insist that the recommendation of the independent pay review body on pay is final. This includes a 6 per cent pay rise, plus an additional payment of £1,250 consolidated into base pay for junior doctors.

The Department of Health and Social Care said “headline pay will not be on the table” during the upcoming meeting.

“We have agreed to meet the BMA consultants’ committee following their commitment to pause strike action, in the hope we will find a resolution and end the dispute,” a government health spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“We have been clear headline pay will not be on the table. Doctors have already received a fair and reasonable pay rise as recommended by the independent pay review body, which we’ve accepted in full.”

They added: “This means doctors who started their hospital training this year have received a 10.3 per cent pay increase, with the average junior doctor getting 8.8 per cent and consultants 6 per cent, alongside generous reforms to their pensions — the BMA’s number one ask.”

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health organisations across the country, cautioned there was “not yet cause for celebration”.

“With the government and the junior doctors committee still at a standstill, and the results of the indicative ballot for SAS [specialist] doctors imminent, the looming threat of further strikes facing the NHS remains.

“Health leaders will be hopeful that these talks with the consultants committee will resolve the concerns among senior doctors and then be used as a springboard for negotiations to begin with the junior doctors and other groups, so that we can find a way out of what has become a painful dispute, not least for patients.”

Strike action has added to pressure the NHS already faces over the winter months and led to more than 1mn outpatient appointments and operations being cancelled. Barclay has publicly criticised senior doctors for choosing to take action.

The BMA and government have so far made no mention of any offer to open talks with ministers over junior doctors’ pay — despite a similar suggestion of talks to be mediated by the conciliation service Acas earlier in the year.

Dr Vishal Sharma, chair of the BMA consultants committee, welcomed the meeting with Barclay. “Following our letter indicating we would pause strike dates and requesting the government enter negotiations with us, we have now received an invitation to talks with the Department of Health and Social Care,” he said in a statement.

“The BMA consultants committee has been clear that reform of the broken pay review process is essential to resolving this dispute and that the reformed pay review body is to make truly independent recommendations on pay in order to correct for the losses that consultants have experienced that have resulted in the current workforce crisis. We will be expecting to discuss and explore other solutions in the forthcoming talks.

“It is good to see the government is willing to come to the table and it is vital that they commit to serious negotiations with a view to bringing this avoidable dispute to a conclusion.”