Junior Doctors Attend First Meeting with New Government

BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi attended their first meeting with the newly appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, at his department’s offices. They discussed how to make progress in bringing the nearly two-year-old pay dispute to an end.

Following the meeting the co-chairs said:“Today we met with the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

“We discussed why we thought the previous set of talks went wrong and how the new Government can work with us, so the mistakes of the past are not repeated.

“This dispute has lasted far too long and has cost the NHS far more than it would have taken to solve from the beginning. Mr Streeting has been following this dispute closely and can be under no illusions: not about the consequences of government delay, nor about the determination of our membership to achieve pay restoration, nor about the hopes of millions of patients for an end to this avoidable dispute.

“From the start we have been very clear about what would end it: a credible offer that begins to restore the real-terms pay that junior doctors have lost since 2008. As we have said repeatedly in this dispute, we are open to discussing the timeframe over which pay restoration can occur – but what is important is having a negotiating partner who takes the principle seriously.

“Mr Streeting has said pay restoration will be a journey: we are looking to set off.

“We thank the Secretary of State for the meeting and have agreed to meet again next week.”

Mr Streeting said: “I met face-to-face with the junior doctors committee today to hit the reset button on relations between the Government and junior doctors.

“Patients, staff, and the NHS have already paid too high a price due to strike action, and I’m optimistic that we can bring this to an end.

“It’s not going to be easy. This government has inherited the worst set of economic circumstances since the Second World War. But both sides have shown willingness to negotiate and we are determined to do the hard work required to find a way through. I am angry about the way the junior doctors are treated in the NHS, and there is a lot we can do to change that.

“Junior doctors are the future of the health service and I want to work with them to turn around our NHS.
“I’m looking forward to meeting them again next week to discuss what went wrong in past talks, and to make further progress on finding a solution to this dispute.”