First year doctors have voted for strike action over fears of job security, the British Medical Association (BMA) said resident doctors saw 97% voting for industrial action.
The BMA has said currently there is no planned strike dates and there will be talks with the government.
The BMA will speak with the government on pay and “will now have to produce a solution on jobs as well as the 21 per cent pay erosion resident doctors have endured since 2008 to avoid future action”.
In July resident doctors walked out for five days and the dispute remains unresolved.
Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) chair Dr Jack Fletcher said on Monday, “The result of today’s ballot makes it clear that the government will now need to step up to the plate.
“Doctors have [today] spoken clearly: they won’t accept that they face a career of insecurity at a time when the demand for doctors is huge. Yet successive governments have been unable to embrace the changes both doctors and patients are crying out for.
“We do not want to have to strike, but we will if we are left with no choice. The government has the power to end both of these disputes now: it must use this opportunity to make the changes that are desperately needed.”
Dr Fletcher added, “It makes no sense that despite the need to bring down waiting lists and increase capacity for patients to be seen, thousands of willing and skilled doctors are unable to find the work to begin treating them.
“By putting these two disputes – pay and jobs – together, we are now giving government a chance to create a plan that supports and develops the workforce of the next generation. Patients need doctors to have jobs. Doctors need to know they will have jobs. And they need to know they will be paid what they’re worth.”
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