Resident doctors call off strikes after new offer from government
Strikes were due to start on Monday, but have been cancelled "while members vote on a new offer covering jobs, pay and progression," according to the BMA.
Resident doctors have called off 5 days of strikes which were due to start on Monday.
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The walkout would have been the 16th since 2023 in a long-running dispute over pay and jobs, but has been called off.
The strikes were due to start at 7 AM on Monday 15 June, and would have run until 6:59 PM on Friday 19 June.
The plans to walkout were halted on Saturday evening "while members vote on a new offer covering jobs, pay and progression," according to the British Medical Association (BMA).
The BMA and the government had been in talks for days, right up until the strike was called off on Saturday.
Read More: NHS urges patients to come forward as normal amid ‘difficult’ six-day strike
Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the BMA's resident doctors committee, said: "This should not have been left to the last moment, but we hold up our end of the bargain when the government shifts its position."
New health secretary James Murray said the latest offer was a "good deal for resident doctors" and a "chance to draw a line under the damaging disputes of recent years".
Sir Keir Starmer also urged resident doctors not to go ahead with the strikes, warning on Tuesday that strikes would risk “huge improvements” in waiting times and that patients “won’t get the care they need.”Before they were called off, there were fears that these strikes would have caused a “triple whammy of pressure” on the NHS.
Professor Frankie Swords, national medical director at NHS England, warned that the strikes would coincide with a predicted heatwave and England’s first World Cup game to create additional strain.
The union is seeking action on training places and pay rises to "restore" their compensation to 2008 levels.
Previously known as junior doctors, resident doctors have received pay rises worth 33% over the past four years, including a 3.5% increase this year.
Health secretary James Murray, who replaced Wes Streeting in the role and in the negotiations after he resigned last month, described the BMA’s demands as "unrealistic, unaffordable and unsustainable.”
The cumulative cost of the walkouts is estimated to have topped £3 billion. Resident doctor members of the BMA have a mandate for industrial action until August.