Further junior doctors’ strikes will ‘significantly impact’ services, says Northern Ireland Healh Minister Robin Swann

The Health Minister was commenting after recently qualified doctors announced plans for two 48-hour walkouts in May and June after pay talks with Mr Swann and his department broke down.

The planned actions will take place from 7am on Wednesday May 22 to 7am on Friday May 24 and from 7am on Thursday June 6 to 7am on Saturday June 8.

Junior doctors in Northern Ireland took strike action for the first time in March, staging a 24-hour walkout that affected hospitals and GP surgeries.

The strike action was called after 97.6% of junior doctors balloted by their union, BMA Northern Ireland, voted in favour of industrial action.

The BMA has called for a commitment to a full pay restoration to 2008 levels, claiming that junior doctors have seen their salaries effectively eroded by 30% over the last 15 years due to a failure to make pay awards in line with inflation.

The union has said some newly qualified doctors are earning £13 per hour in Northern Ireland.

Addressing his Assembly scrutiny committee on Thursday, Mr Swann said he remained committed to pay negotiations with junior doctors.

But he made clear that the Stormont budget agreed by ministers last week would limit his ability to act on the issue.

Mr Swann voted against the budget, insisting the allocation to health fell well short of what was required.

The Health Minister said junior doctors were a “critical part” of the health service workforce.

“Whilst last week’s budget decision certainly hasn’t made it any easier, I remain fully committed to negotiations,” he said.

“But we need to be clear that strike action at this time will have a very significant impact on service delivery and will further exacerbate the challenges facing our health service.

“However, I also have to warn this committee that the Executive budget as it stands will make further industrial action in our health service all the more likely.”

Chair of the BMA’s Northern Ireland junior doctor committee, Dr Fiona Griffin, said the union had agreed to meet Mr Swann and his officials after the March 6 strike.

“We agreed to this in good faith and were hopeful for productive and meaningful discussions,” she said.

“Despite some progress on non-pay issues, regrettably there has been no progress at all on our key asks around pay including a commitment to work towards full pay restoration. This has left us with no choice but to escalate our strike action.

“We are very disappointed that we have not been able to make any progress, but we must act on behalf of our members who voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking strike action for full pay restoration.

“Doctors can see their colleagues elsewhere in the UK and in other jurisdictions getting better pay and conditions for less pressurised workloads.

“This, along with years of below-inflation or non-existent pay uplifts, the latest of which for the 2023/24 financial year has still yet to be paid, further adds to the reality that the key role junior doctors have in the health service is simply not valued.”

Commenting on the potential for pay uplifts to be jeopardised due to the constraints of the health budget, Dr Griffin added: “The levels of discontent among doctors about pay is now so palpable that our consultant colleagues plan to ballot members for industrial action, and a recent indicative ballot of SAS (specialist doctors) members returned a yes vote for the same course of action.

“The health service cannot function without doctors and they are leaving in growing numbers due to decreasing morale from poor pay and high workloads.

“We have been left with no choice but to take action. If our government wants the health service to survive and retain doctors, then it must act now and prioritise staff pay.

“Nothing less than a commitment to full pay restoration to 2008 levels will only address this.”