Junior doctors dispute: BMA and government reach deal

Credit: Reuters

ITV News Health Editor Rachel Younger reports:

The government and the British Medical Association (BMA) have reached a deal in resolving the dispute over new junior doctors' contracts, following 10 days of talks at the conciliation service Acas.

The deal is subject to BMA junior doctor members approving the new contract in a vote.

Under the deal, doctors will be paid a normal rate for Saturdays and Sundays between the hours of 9am and 9pm.

It also includes:

  • A basic pay rise of between 10% and 11%

  • Any shifts which start at or after 8pm and lasts longer than eight hours, and which finishes at or by 10am the following day, will result in an enhanced 37% pay rate for all the hours worked.

  • Doctors will receive a percentage of their salary for working more than six weekends a year - this will range from 3% for working one weekend in 7, and up to 10% if working one weekend in two.

If approved, Acas expect the new deal to be finalised in the next two weeks, with elements of the new contract coming into force from August. All junior doctors will then move onto the new terms between October and August 2017.

No further industrial action will be called while the vote is underway.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and the BMA have both welcomed the deal.

Thousands of junior doctors held a two-day strike last month in a dispute with the government over pay and conditions, after they released a proposed new contract.