NHS Wales: Junior doctors to go on three-day strike

Junior doctors in Wales will strike in January after a huge majority voted for industrial action.

A 72-hour full walkout will take place from 15 January over a pay dispute.

The walkout could see more than 3,000 doctors withdraw their labour from hospitals and GP surgeries across Wales.

The Welsh government called the decision "disappointing" and said it could not meet pay demands without more UK government money.

Of the doctors eligible to vote in Wales, 65% responded and 98% of those supported the strike.

The Welsh junior doctors committee made the decision to ballot members in August after being offered a below-inflation pay offer of 5%.

In a joint statement, Dr Oba Babs-Osibodu and Dr Peter Fahey, co-chairs of BMA Cymru Wales' junior doctors committee, said the ballot results showed the "strength of feeling".

"We are frustrated, in despair and angry… we can't and we won't take any further erosion of our pay," they said.

"Our members have been forced to take this difficult decision because junior doctors in Wales have experienced a pay cut of 29.6 per cent in real terms over the last 15 years."

They said members were not looking for a pay rise, but asking for pay to be restored in line with inflation, and the decision to strike had "not been made lightly".

"Pay needs to be fair and competitive with other healthcare systems across the world to retain and recruit doctors and NHS staff to provide much-needed care," they added.

"On top of this junior doctors are experiencing worsening conditions and so doctors are now looking to leave Wales to develop their careers for better pay and a better quality of life elsewhere.

"Doctors are already voting with their feet and leaving the NHS and we are in a vicious cycle of crippling staffing shortages and worsening patient care."

Dr Babs-Osibodu, a radiology registrar based in Newport who graduated from medical school in 2018, said: "Doctors are already working in pretty gruelling conditions, working nights, working weekends, missing birthdays, Christmases.

"They've had to make multiple sacrifices, moving up and down the country and on top of that they're struggling financially

"We have to pay for exams, sometimes thousands of pounds and GMC fees, just to move around and then on top of that we're not being paid adequately. As a result, many of my colleagues are simply leaving."

The strike action will begin at 07:00 GMT on 15 January and end at the same time on 18 January.

There are just under 4,000 junior doctors working in Wales, in hospitals and GP surgeries.

Given that strike action has been a consistent theme throughout 2023 for junior doctors in England, it would have been more of a surprise if their colleagues in Wales had voted against industrial action.

Particularly as the offer on the table - and now in their bank accounts - is less than that being discussed over the border.

When the likes of nurses and ambulance staff took to the picket lines this time last year, the Welsh government insisted there wasn't the money to offer more.

In the end, an improved offer was found.

But at a time when tens of millions of pounds in cuts have already been demanded of health boards - if they're to get bail-outs for their overspend - the wriggle room is arguably reduced even further.

The term covers all qualified doctors under the level of consultant, who can have up to 11 years of experience in clinical settings.

The NHS in Wales , with the Welsh government prepared to step in and bail out health board overspends.

The strike announcement comes in the same week as the Welsh government's budget will be announced.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: "While we wish to address their pay restoration ambitions, our offer is at the limits of the finances available to us and reflects the position reached with the other health unions for this year.  

"Without additional funding from the UK government, we are not in a position to currently offer any more.

We will continue to press them to pass on the funding necessary for full and fair pay rises for public sector workers."

Elsewhere, junior doctors in England are due to take strike action from 20-23 December and 3-9 January after five weeks of talks failed.

The BMA is also due to ballot members in Northern Ireland in the new year, with a potential 24-hour strike scheduled for March, while Scottish junior doctors accepted an improved offer of a 12.4% pay rise for 2023/2024, backdated to April.