Juniors start talks to avoid ballot on industrial action

Representatives of junior hospital doctors have had their first formal meeting with Department of Health officials to try to reach a settlement over pay and conditions

Last month junior doctors voted for the BMA to ballot its 30 000 junior members over industrial action before the end of September unless an agreement was reached with the UK government (12 June, p 1573) At its annual meeting the BMA overwhelmingly supported the decision (19 July, p 74)

Three other meetings have been arranged, and Mr Andrew Hobart, chairman of the Junior Doctors Committee, told the Joint Consultants Committee last week that he and his colleagues had agreed with the NHS Executive that they would negotiate in good faith with a view to reaching a settlement by the end of August. He hoped that it would not be necessary to take action, but the juniors had a just cause One in four junior doctors worked outside the new deal limits; 80% of the junior doctors who worked on-call rotas were paid half their normal hourly rate when working out of hours; the government had pressed for a …