Junior doctors north of the border are “standing up for the future of the NHS” by voting for strike action, the chairman of BMA Scotland has said.
The union has confirmed that three days of strike action will take place on July 12-15 unless an improved offer is made, after members rejected the latest pay offer.
The Scottish Government offered a 14.5% pay increase over two years but BMA Scotland said it was rejected by 71.1% of those who voted on a 66.3% turnout.
Dr Chris Smith, chairman of the union’s Scottish junior doctor committee, said an improved offer would be a “down payment on the future of the NHS” to make sure it stays an effective health service.
Dr Smith said that doctors recognise there will be disruption and that strike action is an “absolute last resort”.
He said that consultants and specialty doctors will be covering the work of junior doctors.
READ MORE: SNP ministers offer junior doctors 14.5 per cent pay rise
Dr Smith told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “We do recognise that appointments will be cancelled, and operations will be cancelled and that’s why we’ve called on the Government to come back with a better offer to avoid this if we can but, if not, junior doctors are clear – we are standing up for the future of the NHS, the future of our profession by taking this absolute resort of strike action.”
Dr Smith said that junior doctors are the “backbone of the NHS” and that a better offer is needed to address years of pay erosion.
Commenting on the Scottish Government offer, he said: “Since 2008 we’ve had a real terms pay cut of 28.5% so this didn’t even come close to bringing us back to where we were 15 years ago.
“Over the two years that would have entrenched the pay erosion that we’ve seen, and that pay erosion is partly responsible for doctors leaving the NHS in their droves.
“Our pay has been cut by 28.5%, we’re just asking to be brought back to where we were.
“We’re not asking for a pay rise we just want to be back to what we were in 2008 when we think the NHS was working better and there were more doctors.”
He added: “It’s my job to go back to the Government to say we need a better offer and if we don’t get a better offer from you there will be strike action from July 12.
“The ball is firmly in the Government’s court to come back with a better offer and we can work together to avoid the strikes if we can.”
READ MORE: Junior doctor pay ask 'simply unaffordable' warns Health Secretary
Asked what his message to Health Secretary Michael Matheson would be, Dr Smith said: “My direct message to the health secretary is please come back to the table with an improved offer, an improved offer that goes above inflation.
“An improved offer that goes above inflation and links our pay above inflation so that we don’t get back into this hole, we need to dig ourselves out of the hole of pay erosion that is causing so many doctors to leave the NHS.”
On Tuesday, Mr Matheson said he was “disappointed” with the rejection, adding that strikes are “in no one’s interest”.
“I respect the outcome of the ballot. We negotiated in good faith, addressing concerns from junior doctors but this was only the start of the journey, not the end,” Mr Matheson said.
“This was the biggest investment in junior doctor pay for the last 20 years and a step forward to modernising pay-bargaining, restoring confidence amongst junior doctors and ensuring that their contribution to our healthcare system is appropriately recognised.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel