LONDON (Reuters) -Junior doctors in England will walk out for four days from Aug. 11-15, their fifth round of strikes so far in a long-running pay dispute with the government, the British Medical Association (BMA) said on Wednesday.
Earlier this month junior doctors were offered a 6% pay rise and 1,250 pound ($1,615) consolidated increase as part of a broader round of public sector pay awards for 2023/24 made by the government in a bid to end months of crippling strikes.
But the BMA, which represents about 45,000 junior doctors in England, said the offer was still a pay cut in real terms and described it as having “missed a huge opportunity.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said it was a final offer and the government will not negotiate again.
“It is not for Rishi Sunak to decide that negotiations are over before he has even stepped in the room. This dispute will end only at the negotiating table,” co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors committee Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi said.
Junior health minister Will Quince said the announcement of further strikes was “hugely disappointing”.
“Our award balances the need to keep inflation in check while recognising the incredibly important work they do. I urge the BMA to put patients first by ending their hugely disruptive strikes immediately,” he said in a statement.
($1 = 0.7739 pounds)
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar and Farouq Suleiman; Editing by Paul Sandle and Kylie MacLellan)
