Junior doctors in England will take industrial action next month and preparations for a 72-hour full walkout are now underway.
The results of a ballot of the BMA’s junior doctor members, announced today, revealed that 98 per cent of votes endorsed calls for industrial action, based on a turnout of 77.49 per cent.
The result represents a huge mandate for strike action and is the highest-ever number of junior doctors voting for strike action, and a record turnout.
The BMA has been campaigning for full pay restoration with junior doctors having experienced a 26 per cent real-term pay cut since 2008 amid a cost-of-living crisis and spiralling working conditions in the NHS.
Responding to the outcome of the vote, which will see juniors take strike action for the first time since 2016, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Vivek Trivedi and Robert Laurenson thanked everyone who took part in the ballot.
In a video message to juniors, both co-chairs said that by approving strike action, doctors had ‘taken a giant step forward in restoring value to our profession’, adding that today’s result was the start of a better future for junior doctors.
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