Resident doctors in England have called off their planned four-day strike after the government presented a new offer, which will now be put to union members for consideration.
The walkout, scheduled to begin at 7am on Monday, would have marked the 16th round of industrial action since 2023.
The British Medical Association (BMA) confirmed on Saturday that a last-minute proposal had been received, prompting the decision to call off the impending strike. This development averts further disruption to NHS services, at least temporarily.
Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the BMA’s resident doctors committee (RDC), expressed the union’s long-standing position on industrial action.
He stated: “We have always been clear that no strikes needed to go ahead if we received an offer appropriate to put to our members.”
He added a note of frustration regarding the timing: “This should not have been left to the last moment, but we hold up our end of the bargain when the Government shifts its position.”
Dr Fletcher reiterated the core demands of the doctors: “All we have asked for is a fair offer that secures enough jobs to tackle the madness of doctor unemployment and take steps to address the erosion of our pay. Tens of thousands of frontline doctors will now vote in a referendum on whether this offer is sufficient.”
He concluded by emphasising the BMA’s commitment to negotiation: “We will always negotiate in good faith and strikes are a last resort that we will only use in the face of complete Government intransigence. When Government moves, so do we.”
Dr Fletcher warned that if the offer is rejected by members, plans for “further escalated action across next month” would proceed.
The offer is understood to include standard 2016 resident doctor contract terms for all locally employed doctors and an average 6.6% pay uplift to be fully implemented by April 2027.
Professor Frankie Swords, national medical director at NHS England, had said that the service faced a “triple whammy of pressure” as the planned strike would have coincided with warm weather and the World Cup.
Health Secretary James Murray said: “It is a positive and welcome development – especially for patients – that the BMA have called off these unnecessary strikes.”
He added that after a 28.9% pay rise for resident doctors over the last three years, “the country simply cannot afford to increase the pay offer for this year”.
