Junior doctors’ contract talks will resume on Friday

Talks between the BMA and NHS Employers on the junior doctors’ contract are expected to resume on Friday. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), which previously facilitated talks between the two parties, said that it had invited both sides to talks that are expected to begin at 10 am on Friday 8 January.

A spokesman for Acas said that it would be up to the BMA and NHS Employers to decide what would be discussed during the talks.

On Monday 4 January the BMA announced that junior doctors would take industrial action over changes to their contract, after negotiations broke down.1 The association said that the first day of industrial action would be Tuesday 12 January, when junior doctors will for 24 hours provide emergency cover only.

This would be followed by a second, 48 hour, period of industrial action beginning on 26 January and further action that would see a full withdrawal of junior doctors’ labour between 8 am and 5 pm on 10 February.

Industrial action had been planned for 1 December 2015, after 98% of junior doctors responding to a ballot in November voted for strike action. However, the BMA temporarily suspended industrial action and agreed to re-enter talks with the government through Acas.2 After those talks, a memorandum of understanding between the two parties was drawn up and contract negotiations resumed.