Wes Streeting is to offer resident doctors a bigger pay rise than other NHS staff as part of a new package of measures to try to end their long-running dispute.<\/p>\n
The health secretary also plans to guarantee resident doctors in England that hospitals will be fined if they do not give them good working conditions, such as rest areas and access to hot food.<\/p>\n
Streeting is looking at making a series of improvements to previous offers he has made, which may persuade the British Medical Association (BMA) to call off its nearly three-year-long campaign of industrial action.<\/p>\n
Senior figures in the NHS briefed on Streeting\u2019s thinking are increasingly optimistic that the measures he is finalising may prove enough to break the deadlock before the third anniversary of the first doctors\u2019 strike of the current dispute on 13 March 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n The health secretary hopes that by offering to significantly improve \u2013 but for resident doctors only \u2013 the NHS-wide 2.5% pay offer for 2026\/27, which the government insisted last October was the most it could afford, it could finally bring the dispute to an end.<\/p>\n Sources with knowledge of talks Streeting has held recently with representatives of the BMA\u2019s resident doctors committee say he is considering at least doubling the 2.5%. The doctors\u2019 union condemned that figure as \u201cindefensible\u201d<\/a> and \u201can insult\u201d when the Department of Health and Social Care first proposed it in evidence<\/a> to the NHS pay review body and doctors\u2019 and dentists\u2019 remuneration body<\/a>.<\/p>\n The search for a resolution has become more urgent since the BMA announced on Monday<\/a> that resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, had voted overwhelmingly to keep on striking for another six months in pursuit of their demands for a 26% pay rise over the next several years, along with more places for doctors to start training in their chosen medical speciality.<\/p>\n The five-day walkout <\/a>resident doctors staged just before Christmas was their 14th strike since March 2023. Each of the three five-day stoppages they have held since Labour took power in July 2024 has cost the NHS an estimated \u00a3250m.<\/p>\n Streeting is also looking at introducing a system of financial penalties for hospitals that do not do enough to improve resident doctors\u2019 working lives. That could lead to NHS trusts being fined if they do not give those medics access to rest areas and hot food during their shifts, including overnight \u2013 a longstanding complaint by the BMA.<\/p>\n He is also drawing up plans to address another major grievance among resident doctors, namely that those who do extra work outside their contracted hours should receive payment for that or time off in lieu.<\/p>\n Jim Mackey, NHS England\u2019s chief executive, last year set out a 10-point plan<\/a> for hospitals to improve resident doctors\u2019 working lives. However, the BMA and Mackey are both frustrated that some NHS trusts have been slow to make enough progress on issues like access to rest and food, as well as payroll errors and management of doctors\u2019 rotas.<\/p>\n