News / Fresh hope in contract dispute

The ​potential breakthrough happened after the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges intervened to try to break the impasse in the dispute.

Deadlock had been reached after talks broke down in February, with the government deciding to impose the new contract and junior doctors staging all-out strikes for the first time in the history of the NHS.

However, this week academy chair Professor Dame Sue Bailey called for a pause in the imposition of the contract and suspension of the threat of further industrial action. The pause should last five days, she said.

Initially, the Department of Health said the pause would not work as plans to implement the contract in August were too far advanced. However, subsequently, health secretary Jeremy Hunt (pictured) wrote to the academy chair agreeing to a five-day pause from Monday 9 May.

He said the offer of a suspension was contingent on the BMA agreeing to the talks being limited to the outstanding contractual issues that remained when negotiations ended in February. He did not wish to revisit ‘the 90% of issues that were agreed, including the cost neutrality of the contract’.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges sincerely welcomed the government offer of a five-day pause. ‘We believe this represents a good basis to for resolution of the dispute and urge the BMA to play their part,’ it added.

The BMA agreed to the suspension of the threat of industrial action for five days. BMA junior doctors’ leader Johann Malawana said: ‘Junior doctors have said since the outset that we want to reach a negotiated agreement, and have repeatedly urged the government to re-enter talks. As suggested by the academy, we are keen to restart talks with an open mind. It is critical to find a way forward on all the outstanding issues – which are more than just pay – and hope that a new offer is made that can break the impasse.’