Striking junior docs have no plans for walkouts - but Labour cannot afford pay demands
The British Medical Association met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting today. More negotiations are expected to take place next week.
Junior doctors have no plans to call for further strike action, a senior official from the British Medical Association has said. The union met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting for "positive" talks today.
The striking medics in England say their pay has been cut by more than a quarter over the last 15 years and have called for a 35% increase. But Labour has said it cannot afford to meet this demand.
More negotiations are expected to take place with the Government next week, Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairmen of the BMA Junior Doctors’ Committee have said.
Speaking outside the Department of Health and Social Care building after meeting with Mr Streeting, Dr Laurenson said: “I don’t think we can place a value or a certainty on how quickly things are going to need to resolve or what might need to happen to make things resolved.
“This was definitely a collaborative tool and I think it’s fair to say we have no plans at the moment to call for strike action.”
Dr Trivedi said the union did not go into the meeting “expecting a resolution to our dispute from today”. He added: “We were hoping to be heard and to be listened to which is what happened.
“We hope to be able to build on that and so long as we can build on that and continue in good faith, as we have always done, but does seem to be reciprocated now, then it does suggest that we will be able to reach resolution.”
The medics from the BMA have said their meeting with Mr Streeting was “positive”. They said the speed in which they were able to meet the Health Secretary “signifies the urgency” the Government is placing on resolving the dispute.
Dr Trivedi said: “We’re confident that the meeting today was positive and we’ve already agreed to meet again next week with the Secretary of State to further discuss how we can progress.
Don't miss...
Tony Blair warns Keir Starmer that people want immigration 'controls' [LATEST]
Rwanda refuses to give Britain a penny back of axed £270m migrant scheme [SPOTLIGHT]
Reform MPs turn up late to first meeting of new parliament [BREAKING]
“Today we talked a little bit about some of the roadblocks that have prevented us from progressing so far and how we can navigate through those to reach a resolution.”
Sources say the BMA reiterated that junior doctors' pay had been eroded since 2008 and they wanted that restored, and the two sides discussed "openness" about the timeframes for that.
Health leaders urged the Government to resolve the dispute as a “priority” after it emerged that tens of thousands of appointments were postponed as a result of the latest strike.
NHS England said 61,989 appointments, procedures and operations were postponed as a result of the walkout from June 27 to July 2.
The strike was the 11th by junior doctors in 20 months.
Dr Laurenson said: “The Secretary of State was very interested in learning what went wrong.
“And I think that bodes well because that’s not a question that’s ever been asked of us before, which has been a problem for being able to get around any kind of dispute.
“So he was listening, and I just hope that they learnt.”