Resident doctors set for strike ballot over pay deal

Resident doctors in Scotland previously called off a strike in the summer of 2023

Resident doctors are to be balloted over strike action after BMA Scotland said ministers "shamefully reneged" on a previous pay agreement.

The union said the proposed uplift for 2025/26 would have been the lowest in the UK and was less than was recommended by the independent pay review body.

But Health Secretary Neil Gray said he was disappointed by the move following what he described as a "fair, affordable, equitable pay offer".

Scotland's resident doctors - previously known as junior doctors - were poised to strike in the summer of 2023 but the action was called off after a new pay offer.

As part of the last deal, BMA Scotland said the government had pledged to make "credible progress" on pay for each of the following three financial years.

Dr Chris Smith, chairman of the union's Scottish resident doctor committee (SRDC), said: "This agreement was the only thing that prevented strike action by resident doctors in Scotland in 2023 and we remain the UK's only resident doctors not to have gone on strike since it was agreed.

"But that will be forced to change if our agreed deal is ignored.

"By going back on the deal, the Scottish government have knowingly and severely increased the likelihood of us choosing the path of industrial action and the disruption to the NHS that will cause."

Dr Smith said his members wanted a "negotiated settlement" but warned a "real improvement" was needed.

The union also said its members were 17% worse off than their peers were in 2008.

He added: "It is completely unacceptable and it is clear that this is a far cry from the credible progress on the path to pay restoration that we were promised."

The union's SRDC will now request permission from the BMA's UK Council to go ahead with ballot and, if successful, will confirm a timeline.

Neil Gray has been Scotland's health secretary since May last year

Gray said resident doctors had been offered 4.25% for 2025/26, with a further 3.75% for 2026/27.

He added: "That's the same offer that nurses and other NHS staff chose to accept earlier this year and shows the value we also place on the role that resident doctors play in our hospitals and health clinics.

"I also thought we had a shared ambition to reform and renew NHS Scotland, focusing on fundamentally improving service delivery."

Gray said he had been told by health workers about various challenges which were harming morale and impacting on the ability of staff to do their jobs.

The health secretary added: "This potentially puts the progress we have made on these issues at risk, and no-one will benefit from that, least of all patients."

Gray also said he did not recognise the union's claims in relation to the 2023 agreement on pay restoration and urged the SRDC to reconsider.