Young doctors will strike again before the general election, in a six-day strike designed to paralyze hospitals.
Thousands of doctors demanding pay increases of up to 35 percent will leave their jobs from June 27 to July 2.
British Medical Association (BMA) bosses claimed the Government had not made a credible offer and that young doctors were “fed up and out of patience”.
More than a million appointments and operations have been canceled due to the endless wave of NHS strikes that began in 2022.
Young doctors on picket outside London’s St Thomas’ Hospital during the latest strike wave in January
The B.M.A. claims its demands are for “pay restoration” as previous NHS pay rises for doctors have not kept pace with inflation since 2008.
Young doctors in their first year now have a basic salary of £32,300, while those with three years’ experience earn £43,900. The oldest earn £63,100.
Ministers previously offered junior doctors a pay rise of 8.8 per cent, on average, for the 2023/24 financial year.
However, the increase was largest for first-year doctors, who were given a 10.3 percent raise.
Ministers insisted this was the final offer. But Atkins offered doctors an additional 3 percent on top of this increase.
But the union said at the time that this enhanced sum was still “completely insufficient”.