Junior doctors in Northern Ireland have voted to take part in strike action for the first time in a long-running dispute over pay. The six-week ballot resulted in 97.6% of junior doctors voting in favour of industrial action. The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that this demonstrated the extent to which junior doctors felt they had “no other choice.” There was a 63.7% participation rate in the ballot.
The one-day walkout is set to take place on March 6-7. Northern Ireland’s newly qualified doctors earn £26,000 per year, compared to starting salaries of over £33,000 in England and £32,000 in Scotland. The BMA has stated that junior doctors’ pay in Northern Ireland has declined by 30% over the past 15 years.
The BMA’s Northern Ireland junior doctors committee described the result as “a clear indication of the strength of feeling among junior doctors about years of pay erosion.” While the union has said there had been “a renewed sense of hope” on progress on pay, following the allocation of £688 million for public sector pay increases by the Stormont executive, Dr Fiona Griffin, the committee chair, added that a recent pay meeting left junior doctors “extremely disappointed and disheartened.”
The Department of Health has stated that it will continue negotiations with unions over pay, expressing the hope that a solution satisfactory to all parties can be reached. The BMA has stressed that health and pay are devolved matters, despite ongoing Westminster negotiations with doctors in England, and that pay talks must take place directly with officials in Northern Ireland
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