BMA News

Pay erosion isn’t the only issue affecting doctors in Northern Ireland – they face high unemployment, too, which has forced many to leave the country in search of better terms and conditions. Jennifer Trueland reports Stormy clouds are looming above Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital, where resident doctors have gathered to demonstrate at the start of their latest 24-hour strike.

The long-running dispute between resident doctors and the Government has come to an end after BMA members accepted the latest offer on pay and jobs. The BMA resident doctors committee in England accepted the latest offer, after 53 per cent of eligible BMA members voted in favour in a referendum. Turnout was 57 per cent, with 32,932 doctors voting. The acceptance of the deal brings an end to the dispute in England, which has seen 15 rounds of industrial action take place since 2023.

Resident doctor leaders accused Northern Ireland’s health minister of ‘burying his head in the sand’ as they prepared to go out on strike owing to pay erosion. A 24-hour walk-out began today at 7am today as resident doctors continue their battle for pay restoration. It follows a 24-hour strike (in the form of Christmas Day cover) by consultants and specialist, associate specialist and specialty doctors in Northern Ireland on Thursday.

The BMA’s resident doctors committee (RDC) in England has accepted the Government’s pay offer, after 53% of eligible BMA members voted in favour in a referendum. Turnout was 57%, with 32,932 doctors voting. Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of RDC, said: “Resident doctors have spoken. They have decided that the current offer is sufficient to continue on the road to pay restoration, and sufficient to address the absurd lack of jobs in the NHS. The strikes will now end. “These strikes did not need to happen.

Doctors leaders went to Stormont to explain why they are leading their colleagues on a strike for the first time ever in Northern Ireland When Northern Ireland’s senior hospital doctors went on strike yesterday there was a particular irony in where they chose to share their message.

For the first time, consultants and specialist, associate specialist and specialty doctors in Northern Ireland will go on strike today because of pay. The 24-hour strike takes the form of Christmas Day cover, which means most routine or elective work will be cancelled but emergencies will be treated and runs from 7am today until 6.59am tomorrow.

The multi-billion dollar global e-cigarettes industry is ‘undermining decades of tobacco control gains’. That was the message from doctors at the BMA annual representative meeting who urged the Government to recognise a new ‘public health emergency’ – and to introduce standardised plain packaging, restrict display and marketing of products and implement an NHS vaping cessation pathway.

ARM hears how widespread doctor substitution has become after association’s investigation into roles ‘This substitution must stop.’ Melissa Ryan, a resident doctor in paediatrics, made a plea – firmly rooted in evidence – for doctors to protect themselves and their patients by putting a stop to employers asking APs (advanced practitioners) to work on medical rotas without the requisite qualifications.

Doctors have been ‘pushed to their limits’ but are a profession ‘united’ and will refuse to accept a ‘pathetic future’. That was the rallying call from BMA deputy council chair Emma Runswick (pictured above) as she spoke at the BMA annual representative meeting in Brighton today.

Doctors have demanded an end to the ‘rationing of healthcare’ introduced by imposed contract variations which order GPs to make compulsory requests for advice from secondary care rather than having a right to refer.