doctors in England have voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3 per cent on average over two years, bringing their long-running dispute to an end.

The British Medical Association’s (BMA) junior doctors committee (JDC) in England has accepted the Government’s pay offer, with 66 per cent of junior doctors voting in favour of the deal, the BMA said.

Junior doctors in England have taken industrial action 11 times in the past 22 months, with their last strike just days before the general election.

Their last strike, which took place from June 27 to July 2, affected 61,989 appointments, procedures and operations, according to NHS England

The agreement will increase junior doctors’ compensation by 3.71 to 5.05 percent, with an average of 4.05 percent, on top of their current pay award for 2023/24. This will be backdated to April 2023. Each level of the pay scale will also be increased by 6%, plus £1,000, as proposed by the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB), with an effective date of April 1, 2024. Both increases mean that a doctor starting foundation training in the NHS will see their base pay climb to £36,600, up from around £32,400. A full-time doctor starting speciality training will see their basic wage increase to £49,900 from around £43,900. Outside of the compensation negotiations, the government has agreed that from September 18, “junior doctors”The BMA stated that “resident doctors” across the UK will be referred to as such in order to properly reflect their expertise.

The BMA declared that “resident doctors” in the UK will be referred to as such in order to accurately reflect their expertise.

The British Medical Association’s statement read: “Junior doctors have been in dispute over more than a decade of real-terms pay cuts since October 2022, during which time they have taken 44 days of strike action.”Over the course of the two-year conflict, the average wage increase will be 22.3%. This is made up of an additional average 4.05 percent for the pay year 2023/24 on top of the previously awarded average 8.8 percent, bringing last year’s pay increase to an average of 13.2 percent – this will be retroactive to April 2023.”The remainder of the increase comes from the recommended pay award for 2024/25 released in July, which offered junior doctors an average 8% raise across grades.

The government has also agreed to collaborate with the BMA to improve how junior doctors report additional hours worked in order to guarantee they are compensated for their efforts. “There is also agreement to reform the current system of rotational training for junior doctors as well as reviewing the training bottlenecks that previous Governments have imposed, which has manufactured the shortage of consultant and GP doctors.” Dr. Robert Laurenson and Dr. Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the junior doctors committee, stated, “It should never have taken so long to get here, but we have shown what can be accomplished with our determination and with a government willing to simply sit down and talk realistically about a path to pay restoration.”

There is still a long way to go, with doctors still 20.8% behind in real terms from 2008. Mr Streeting has acknowledged that our pay has slipped behind and has spoken of a journey to pay restoration. He believes the independent pay review board is the best vehicle for this, and if he is correct, no doctor should strike over compensation in the future. However, if the pay review body fails to meet his expectations, he must be prepared to face the repercussions. “The resident physicians committee, as we will be known, will use the coming months to prepare to build on their achievements so that future generations of doctors never have to face the kind of pay cuts we have.

We thank all of the doctors who have supported us up to this point by standing on picket lines and fighting for their pay. The campaign is not over, but we and they should be proud of how far we have gone.” Health Secretary Wes Streeting stated that he is “pleased” that the BMA has accepted the government’s pay offer. He stated, “We inherited a broken NHS, the most devastating dispute in the health service’s history, and negotiations with the previous ministers had not taken place since March.” “Things should never have gotten so awful. That’s why I made it my top goal to terminate the strikes, which we did in just three weeks. “I am pleased that our offer has been accepted, which ends the strikes.”