Junior doctors offered 11% pay rise to stop strike

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, has revealed that he is willing to offer junior doctors an 11% pay rise in a last-ditch attempt to ward off strike action.

The move comes after Hunt announced a potential new contract which could put an end to overtime pay, revising normal working hours to include 7am to 10pm, Monday to Saturday. This would mean that junior doctor’s salary could fall by up to 30%, with the majority of trainee’s earning the bulk of their money working outside of the normal hours.

The junior doctor wing of the British Medical Association (BMA) quickly rejected the new plan, balloting its members in an attempt to create a mass walkout.   

Hunt, in what the BMA has dubbed “megaphone diplomacy,” has written to every intern in England, detailing what this new contract would mean and how they would be affected. He explained that the changes would see a seven-day NHS, restricting hours in order to “make care safer for patients.”