Junior and specialist doctors in England to hold strike talks with government

Junior and specialist doctors in England will hold talks with the government to avoid strikes in their pay dispute, a union has said.

Junior doctors and consultants have been co-ordinating action as part of a long-running pay dispute.

They staged three days of strike action at the start of October.

BMA members working as specialist doctors overwhelmingly voted in favour of industrial action in an indicative ballot

A formal strike ballot will be held if no progress is made by 6 November.

Separately, the BMA body representing junior doctors said it had agreed to talks with the government next week.

The government has said pay would "not be on the table" at any talks.

The walkouts have meant more than one million appointments and treatments, including some cancer care, have been postponed because of industrial action since December last year.

Many health bosses have urged both sides to enter talks, with concerns raised over the prospect of further industrial action during the winter period.

Most specialist doctors work in hospitals, alongside junior doctors and consultants, but some also work in the community.

Writing on X (formerly Twitter), the British Medical Association account representing junior doctors said: "We have agreed to talks with [the government]. We will be meeting with them next week and will listen to what they have to say."

Dr Ujjwala Mohite, chair of the specialist doctors committee UK at BMA, said the government "cannot ignore the strength of feeling on the ground" among medics.

He said four months of "stagnant talks" meant doctors were prepared to strike, despite hoping industrial action can be avoided.

"[Specialist] doctors are overworked and exhausted, and have had enough of not being properly valued for the vital work they do - something we have been hearing at a grassroots level for a long time and which was strongly echoed in the overwhelming indicative ballot results."

A Department of Health spokesperson said the government was pleased the BMA had agreed to talks over the dispute with junior doctors "in the hope we will find a resolution and end the dispute".

The spokesperson also said the government was pleased the BMA decided to delay moving to a formal ballot of specialist doctors to allow time for talks.

"We have been clear headline pay will not be on the table. Doctors have already received a fair and reasonable pay rise as recommended by the independent pay review body, which we've accepted in full," the spokesperson added.