A bitter pay dispute between the Tories and NHS consultants could be nearing an end after a deal was struck today.
Top hospital doctors in England took part in nine days of strikes in early October as they urged ministers to increase their wage offer. The Department of Health today announced the two sides “have reached an agreement to put an offer to union members following constructive negotiations”.
The British Medical Association said the deal was for a 4.95% “investment in pay for this financial year. in addition to the 6% pay uplift already awarded for this year”. It added: “If the offer is accepted, the changes will be applicable from January 2024, but will be paid retrospectively in April 2024.”
The pact with consultants, which will be put to them for approval, will pile pressure on junior doctors to end their industrial action and also reach agreement with ministers and pay negotiators.
BMA consultants committee chairman Dr Vishal Sharma said: “We are pleased that after a month of intense talks and more than six months of strike action we never wanted to take, we have now got an offer we can put to members. It is a huge shame that it has needed consultants to take industrial action to get the Government to this point when we called for talks many months ago.”
Strikes by NHS staff, including doctors, nurses and consultants, caused more than a million treatments and appointments to be cancelled in recent months. Ministers are still locked in a row with nurses, who staged a series of walkouts earlier this year.
Royal College of Nursing Chief Nurse Professor Nicola Ranger warned more strikes could take place following the deal with consultants.
“Nursing staff will be appalled by this announcement and where it leaves them. The Government has shown it has the political will to reform pay for some of the highest earners in the NHS while our members are left with the lowest pay rise in the public sector,” she claimed today. “It’s galling that almost 12 months since nursing staff took the unprecedented decision to strike, our pay dispute remains unresolved, and the Government continues to undervalue our profession. Today’s news will ignite our members’ fury further, making nursing strikes more likely in the future.”
Rishi Sunak blamed NHS walkouts for fuelling record high waiting lists, which currently stand at 7.8 million. The Prime Minister said: “Ending damaging strike action in the NHS is vitally important if we want to continue making progress towards cutting waiting lists while making sure patients get the care they deserve. This is a fair deal for consultants who will benefit from major reform to their contract, it is fair for taxpayers because it will not risk our ongoing work to tackle inflation, and most importantly it is a good deal for patients to see the end of consultant industrial action.”
The deal was agreed two weeks after Victoria Atkins became Health Secretary in the latest Cabinet reshuffle. She said: “I hugely value the work of NHS consultants and am pleased that we have been able to make this fair and reasonable offer after weeks of constructive negotiations. If accepted, it will modernise pay structures, directly addressing gender pay issues in the NHS. It will also enhance consultants’ parental leave options. Putting an end to this strike action will support our efforts to bring down waiting lists and offer patients the highest quality care.”
The PM’s spokesman said the Government was happy to discuss non-headline pay issues with junior doctors in the same way as it had with consultants.