Junior doctors' union asks Acas to facilitate government talks and end strike deadlock
The strike has caused widespread disruption throughout the NHS, ITV News' Martin Stew and Sangita Lal report
Junior doctors have called on the conciliation service Acas to help facilitate talks with the government, in a bid to end an ongoing dispute over pay.
Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) are on the second day of a four-day walkout over the deadlock, which Health Secretary Steve Barclay said was “regrettable”.
Downing Street insisted they won't get back around the negotiating table unless junior doctors abandon their demand for a 35% rise and call off the action, while Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer agreed with Mr Barclay that their request is not "affordable".
But now the BMA has admitted it needs "someone to start brokering realistic talks", with an ACAS spokesperson saying the organisation is "well prepared and ready to help".
Chairman of the BMA council, Professor Philip Banfield, said: "In the face of a constant refusal from the Health Secretary to agree to further talks and put forward a credible offer which could bring an end to the dispute, we believe that working with Acas provides the most realistic chance of a successful outcome to the negotiations."
'It's time Steve Barclay made us an offer', says a striking junior doctor
The BMA claims junior doctors in England have shouldered a 26% real-terms pay cut since 2008/09 because pay rises have been below inflation.
The union has asked for a full pay restoration which the government said would amount to a 35% pay rise. Mr Barclay said on Tuesday that for some junior doctors this would result in a £20,000 pay rise, something he said was "not fair or reasonable".
Hospital bosses have also expressed concern about keeping patients safe as they struggle to secure cover for overnight junior doctor shifts during the strikes.
However, after agreeing to let seven junior doctors leave the picket line at Weston General Hospital in Somerset, the BMA revoked its permission over claims "they were misled over the level of staffing cover".
"Either local management were unaware they had sufficient senior cover, or they deliberately misled us," the BMA said in a statement.
"We will be asking NHSE (NHS England) to explore any potential probity issues. We granted a derogation in good faith and it is incredibly disappointing to see this abused in this way."
Under NHS contingency plans, hospital leaders can request for doctors to return to work for a limited time in certain circumstances “to maintain safe patient care”.
'We carry more and more risk the more junior strikes happen', warns Joe Harrison, chief executive of Milton Keynes University Hospital
NHS Providers warned the walkout will cause a “very long, difficult week” for the health service, while the health service's top doctor warned the situation will "become more challenging each day this strike progresses”.
NHS England’s national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: “Staff are working incredibly hard during this unprecedented period of industrial action, and we expect the situation to become more challenging each day this strike progresses.
“As the week goes on, we expect to see staff cover stretched as those who worked tirelessly over the Easter holiday take leave, which will pose a huge challenge to an already depleted workforce.”
The chief executive of Milton Keynes University Hospital told ITV News they "carry more and more risk" to patients "the more junior doctors' strikes happen".
On the cancellation of routine operations, he said they are appointments which could be both "clinically and physically life-changing" for the individual who now has to wait longer.
Elsewhere, the BMA was forced to issue a statement on Wednesday morning following reports one of its own members, a junior doctors committee co-chair, is on holiday for the duration of the strike action.
"Dr Laurenson is off work this week fulfilling a long-standing commitment to attend the wedding of a family friend," a spokesperson said.
"We aren't going to disclose further personal information but he remains actively involved in the planning of the dispute."
'I don't think 35% is affordable', says Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer
Due to the timing of the strike in the easter holidays, a number of senior doctors are unable to provide cover as they did in the previous three-day strike.
Commenting on Tuesday, Mr Barclay said: “I deeply regret these strikes and in particular the timing, which been timed deliberately coming straight after Easter, the fact that the BMA junior doctors have asked their members not to tell NHS managers whether they intended to go on strike or not – making contingency planning more difficult – and also their refusal to agree on any national exemptions.
“Other health unions like the Royal College of Nursing agreed national exemptions, particularly, for example, for cancer patients so that those patients weren’t impacted."
He continued: “We are ready to have discussions with them but clearly a demand for 35% – over £20,000 for some junior doctors – is not fair or reasonable.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Starmer echoed Mr Barclay's comments. "I don't think 35% is affordable, but I do think the role of government is to get in the room, around the table, and negotiate a settlement," he told broadcasters.
But Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, said: “The Government has not even tried to meet us anywhere in the middle, it hasn’t given us a counter-offer at all.”
It has been estimated that some 350,000 appointments and operations have been rescheduled as a result of the action.
The BMA has claimed junior doctors in England have seen a 26% real-terms pay cut since 2008/09 because pay rises have been below inflation.
It has asked for a full pay restoration that the Government said would amount to a 35% pay rise – which ministers have said is unaffordable.
The union said junior doctors can earn as little as £14.09 per hour in their basic pay packet.
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