JUNIOR doctors will walk out for four days next month after refusing the latest offers from the Government, it has been announced.
Strike action is set to take place From April 11 on 6.59am and will last until Saturday April 15 at 6.59am lasting 96 hours.
AlamyThe fresh wave of strikes are set to take place from April 11 and will last 96 hours[/caption]
The strike planned for next month is longer than the three day wallout that took place on March 13.
It was previously claimed that the junior doctors have faced a “real-terms pay cut of more than 26 per cent” since 2008.
Junior doctors make up around 45 per cent of the NHS’s medical workforce.
Now the British Medical Association (BMA) has said that the Government has failed to come to the table with ‘any credible offers’.
After meeting with the Secretary of State, Steve Barclay, BMA junior doctors’ leaders concluded that the Government was not serious about resolving the dispute.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA junior doctor committee, said: “It is with disappointment and great frustration that we must announce this new industrial action.
“The Government has dragged its feet at every opportunity. It has not presented any credible offer and is refusing to accept that there is any case for pay restoration, describing our central ask as ‘unrealistic’ and ‘unreasonable’. ”
The medics said the the Government has continued to add ‘new unacceptable preconditions to talks instead of getting on and trying to find a resolution’.
Dr Trivedi added: “We therefore have no confidence that without further action these negotiations can be successful.
“This situation is entirely of the Government’s own making. We want to spend our time looking after patients, not on strike.
“But with an NHS buckling under a workforce crisis, and four in ten junior doctors looking to leave, we can’t stand by while our pay is further eroded by inflation and an intransigent Government.
“We are not going to stop until we are paid what we are worth, and if ministers don’t accept that when we tell them in person, we will have to tell them from the picket line.”
Experts previously warned that there will no improvement to the NHS until it has more manpower.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies warned the waiting list of 7million people will “flatline” this year.
And MPs on the Public Accounts Committee said plans to reform local health boards are “paralysed”.
On March 13, Rishi Sunak revealed progress was being made in talks with nurses in the NHS.
However, he said he had been ‘disappointed’ to see the action by junior doctors.