Junior doctors and Government ‘reach deal on new contract’

May 18, 2016

Talks between BMA and Government are scheduled to finish today
Announcement is expected after ‘real progress’ made in negotiations
Junior doctors expected to accept Saturday morning as ‘normal hours’
BMA says any deal would have to be put before junior doctors in a ballot

Kate Pickles For Mailonline

Published:
00:21 EST, 18 May 2016

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Updated:
10:55 EST, 18 May 2016

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Junior doctors and the Government have finally agreed a deal which is set end to any further strike action, it has been announced this afternoon.

The two sides have come to an agreement after eight days of fresh talks and three years of acrimonious negotiations over a new contract.

The key sticking point was around Saturday pay, with the Government arguing it should count as a normal working day but doctors insisting the hours should be paid at an ‘unsocial’ rate.

Junior doctors stopped providing emergency care for the first time in NHS history during their most recent walkout but there are hopes the dispute will end today

The dispute began when the Government took steps to introduce its manifesto commitment of a seven-day NHS.

Mr Hunt wanted to change what constitutes ‘unsocial’ hours for which junior doctors can claim extra pay, turning 7am to 5pm on Saturday into a normal working day.

Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay for junior doctors.

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Today, the Guardian reported that junior doctors may have conceded the principle of Saturday working becoming part of a normal working week, but only up until 1pm – not 5pm as currently proposed.

Despite the Government offsetting this change with a hike in basic pay of 13.5 per cent, it proved to be a sticking point with the BMA.

The newspaper reports that junior doctors may have conceded the principle of Saturday working becoming part of a normal working week, but only up until 1pm – not 5pm as currently proposed.

Now, the new deal will be put to a ballot where 55,000 BMA members will be able to vote on whether to accept it.

The talks followed five rounds of industrial action which saw junior doctors in England walk out of UK hospitals.

The talks to end the bitter dispute between junior doctors and the Government’s new contract are scheduled to end today after months of disruption and ill-feeling

They also withdrew care for the first time in the NHS’ history.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt agreed to pause the introduction of a controversial new contract – due to come into force in August – so the talks could go ahead.

And the BMA agreed to lift the threat of further industrial action – after leaked documents showed they had discussed a ‘strike of no return’ – where medics would simply not return to the wards until a satisfactory deal was agreed.

Both parties agreed to return to the negotiating table last week, but Mr Hunt demanded a ‘written agreement’ from the BMA’s junior doctors committee that discussions over the contentious issue of unsocial hours and Saturday pay would be held in ‘good faith’.

The resumption of negotiations has been brokered by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, leading doctors who campaign on medical standards and education, in an effort to end the dispute.

Mr Hunt has insisted that discussions should not concern 90 per cent of the issues already agreed but should focus instead on outstanding contractual issues.

Junior doctors stopped providing emergency care for the first time in NHS history during their most recent walkout, which went on for two days at the end of April.

In the last strike alone, more than 125,000 appointments and operations were cancelled and will need to be rearranged.

This was on top of almost 25,000 procedures cancelled during previous action.