Uncertainty in Nottinghamshire hospitals over whether junior doctors will accept the Government’s pay offer to end strikes

The boss of Sherwood Forest Hospitals has warned he is uncertain whether junior doctors will accept a pay rise offered by the Government in an attempt to finally end more than a year of damaging strikes.

A pay dispute between the Government and the British Medical Association (BMA), which represents all UK doctors and medical students across the country, began almost two years ago.

They have taken part in strike action 11 times since 2022 and have been asking for a pay rise after what they say is 15 years of below inflation increases.

However, the new Labour Government has since made an offer of 22.3% across two years, and a referendum of more than 60,000 junior doctors across England, asking them if they will accept or reject a pay offer, started on August 19.

The junior doctor committee is recommending members accept the deal, and the referendum will end on September 15.

During a Sherwood Forest Hospitals board meeting on Thursday (September 5), the Trust’s acting chief executive David Selwyn said: “The junior doctors, as was, resident doctors as we call them now, a referendum on their pay offer is out and that commenced on August 19 and that is running through to September 15.

“I don’t have a feel about this, there are very mixed views.”

The trust runs King’s Mill, Mansfield Community and Newark Hospitals.

Some GPs are also taking part in what is known as ‘collective action’ due to a dispute with NHS England over changes to the GP contract.

GP partners use funds they get through the contract to operate their practices, including covering staff costs and utility bills.

But annual increases to contract payments have fallen below inflation.

The BMA says the value of the contract has fallen by £660 million nationally, meaning GPs are struggling to meet rising costs.

The funding uplift this year only amounted 1.9%, prompting the call for collective action.

While not a strike in the typical sense, it means some GPs may choose not to do extra hours or limit the number of patients they see to the contracted 25 per day.

Mr Selwyn said the impact of the collective action on hospital services is also not yet known.

“To date it is fair to say we have seen very limited impact from this,” he said.

“But as many of you may be aware the conversation is becoming increasingly confrontational from the BMA.

“It is uncertain what the impact might be at present but we hope with these industrial actions there is a resolution and meaningful dialogue but we wait to see.”

After high demand for urgent and emergency care in July, the trust says there has been a “seasonal ease” in August.

Operational performance is currently the best it has been since February 2022, and Mr Selwyn said he wanted to commend staff for their work.

There has also been a reduction in the numbers of planned-care patients on the waiting list, and improvements in diagnostic performance.

“We’ve seen a much improved position in terms of demand and performance metrics, and this hopefully supports our belief that our underlying systems and processes are good and that it is the demand that constrains our operational delivery,” he added.