Junior doctors strikes will escalate to ‘indefinite with-drawl of labor’, union lead warns

Junior doctors could indefinitely withdraw labor, and strike for three days a month until next year, the medics’ union leaders have warned.

Hundreds of junior doctors gathered outside the largest NHS conference of the year, NHS Confedexpo, on Thursday chanting “pay us fair, pay right, we don’t want to have to strike”.

The British Medical Association’s junior doctor committee co-chair Dr Rob Laurenson warned junior doctors may next escalate strike action in an “indefinite withdrawal of labour”.

The union has also said it will re-ballot training doctors next week to extend its strike mandate and will consider “co-ordinated action” with consultants, who are also currently being balloted over the possibility of strike action.

If members vote to continue strikes, junior doctors will take to picket lines for three days a month, every month, until March 2024, the PA news agency reported.

The move would represent a significant escalation in the dispute with the Government over pay.

When asked by The Independent how junior doctors could further escalate strikes Dr Laurenson said: “There will come a point in time where the [BMA] strike funds will be able to supply significant support for junior doctors to be able to participate in action.

“There will come a time where the inevitable thing will happen which will probably look like an indefinite withdrawal of labor.”

The BMA is calling on the government to negotiate a pay rise that would address a 35 per cent pay cut since 2008. However, the union’s co-chair Dr Laurenson said this would not have to come in one single year and that the union would consider a multi-year package.

During a speech at the NHS ConfedExpo Steve Barclay said there had been no movement on the 35 per cent pay rise demand from the BMA despite weeks of negotiation.

His words came against the backdrop of hundreds of striking doctors who stood outside a conference of 5000 healthcare professionals on Thursday ahead of a speech by health secretary Steve Barclay.

Medics chanted: “What do we want? Fair pay. When do we want it? Now.” Chants of “cuts don’t pay the bills” were also heard.

Many key NHS figures ducked out of the NHS’s annual meeting to manage the strike’s fallout.

NHS England boss Amanda Pritchard said the strike is a “serious risk to patient safety” and industrial action “creates risk and upheaval”.

She said tens of thousands of appointments will be affected.

Speaking before leaving the conference to co-ordinate the strike response from the London office, she told delegates on Wednesday: “We must prioritise the management of what is a serious business continuity incident and therefore a serious risk to patient safety.”

She added: “As much as we learn from managing each action every time it happens, it creates risk and upheaval and distracts from our priorities, particularly elective recovery..