Junior doctors agree pay deal to end strike action and name change

Junior doctors have voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3 per cent on average over two years, bringing to an end strike action after a long-running campaign. And from Wednesday, they will no longer be referred to as junior doctors as a name change to resident doctors has also been agreed.

The British Medical Association made the announcements on Monday night. In a statement, the BMA said 66 per cent of junior doctors voted to accept the deal.

The statement issued to the media said: "The BMA’s junior doctors committee (JDC) in England has accepted the Government's pay offer, with 66 per cent of junior doctors voting in favour of the deal.

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"Outside the pay negotiations, the Government has agreed that from September 18 'junior doctors' across the UK will be known as 'resident doctors' to better reflect their expertise.

"This follows a motion to the BMA’s annual policy making conference in 2023 when doctors voted in favour of a name change."

The BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said: "It should never have taken so long to get here, but we have shown what can be accomplished with our determination and with a government willing to simply sit down and talk realistically about a path to pay restoration. One strike was one strike too many.

"This deal marks the end of 15 years of pay erosion with the beginning of two years of modest above inflation pay rises. There is still a long way to go, with doctors remaining 20.8 per cent in real terms behind where we were in 2008. Mr Streeting has acknowledged our pay has fallen behind and has