Government must drop “nonsensical” demands to avoid further strikes, says BMA

Junior doctors’ leaders have vowed to focus on seeking a settlement with the government over their pay in a bid to avoid further strike action. But Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee, told The BMJ that the government was not approaching negotiations in the way that would usually be expected and that it was blocking any path to a deal.

“What they’ve asked us to do is to move our opening position, which is completely nonsensical,” Trivedi said. “Anyone who has ever negotiated with anyone knows that one side puts their case forward and then the other side puts their case forward, and then after a period of negotiation you come to a mutually agreeable solution. But we haven’t yet had the other side. The government has yet to put anything on the table at all, so it is completely unreasonable for them to expect us to move right now.”

Junior doctors are asking for a 35.3% pay rise, which they have demanded to reverse an estimated 26% real terms cut in pay since 2008-09.

Speaking to The BMJ on Monday 17 April, after the four days of strike action by junior …