Hospital doctors to strike as pay dispute continues

By

Health correspondent, BBC News NI

Hospital doctors in Northern Ireland are to strike in November over pay.

It comes after the Royal College of Nursing announced that it is also balloting its members on potential strike action.

The doctors will stage two separate 24-hour strikes on 20 and 23 November.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has warned doctors are prepared to escalate the strike action if progress is not made in addressing the pay issue, which they say has seen doctors' pay drop from upwards of 26% over the past 18 years due to below inflation pay awards.

The Department of Health (DoH) has been approached for comment.

Resident doctors will hold a full 24-hour strike starting at 07:00 BST on 20 November until 07:00 the following morning.

Consultants and specialist, associate specialist and speciality grade (SAS) doctors will also take 24-hour action from 07:00 on 23 November until 07:00 the following morning.

They will provide what is known as Christmas Day cover, which means that most routine and elective services will be cancelled but full emergency cover will remain in place.

Resident doctors are fully qualified medical practitioners who are completing postgraduate clinical training in a hospital or general practice under the supervision of a senior doctor.

SAS doctors are specialist doctors employed by health trusts.

The three branches of hospital doctors also took strike action in June.

The BMA said if Health Minister Robbie Butler was serious about transforming the health service and addressing the waiting list crisis he needed to value doctors by paying them fairly.

Dr Clodagh Corrigan, chair of BMA's Northern Ireland SAS committee, said: "We have been clear to avoid further industrial action we need a credible offer from government that makes meaningful progress towards full pay restoration.

"We met with the new health minister recently, hopeful that we could begin fresh discussions on agreeing a credible pay offer. Regrettably, this did not happen."

She said the minister was unable to confirm if the minimum annual pay uplift for 2026/27, which has been paid to doctors elsewhere in the UK, would be paid "this side of Christmas, or indeed at all".

"We were informed that the decision ultimately lay with the executive," she said.

"Therefore, we have been left with no alternative but to announce more dates for industrial action and we are fully prepared to escalate action if no progress is made."

Dr David Farren, chair of BMA's NI consultants committee, said pay was central to recruitment and retention of doctors and hindered the delivery of a sustainable and safe health service.

"There is palpable anger among our members at continuing sub-inflationary, late pay awards while we work beyond capacity in under-supported services," he said.

"This annual uncertainty over when we will receive our pay award reinforces the widespread feeling that we are not valued, and leads to doctors seeking better paid roles elsewhere."

He said this impacted service delivery and it was "unacceptable that our government continues to let this happen".

It comes after the Royal College of Nursing announced on Wednesday that it will ballot its members on industrial action and strike action over pay.

The union said the move came after many months of inaction on the pay award.

Earlier this year, the NHS pay review body recommended a 3.3% pay increase for staff across all pay bands.

While nurses and healthcare workers in England and Wales have received their award, nursing staff in Northern Ireland have not.

In a statement the DoH said the health minister was clear that the 2026/27 award should be implemented and pay parity with colleagues in NHS England restored as soon as possible.