Last month, the government and the British Medical Association (BMA) agreed a deal on junior doctors’ pay in England, proposing an average of 22% pay rise within two years.

As reported by BBC, the BMA’s junior doctors committee has agreed to recommend the deal to their members, and if the junior doctors accept it, the long-term strikes may end. According to incomplete statistics, since March, 2023, the strike has resulted in hundreds of thousands of medical appointments cancelled.

The newest protocol also included a backdated 4% pay rise for 2023-2024, and an averager ise of 9% rise in last financial year. The independent pay review bodysugge sted further about 8% pay rise between 2024 and 2025, making junior doctors’ total pay uplift of 22% across the two years on average, and the lowest-paid doctors will get the highest pay increase.

The BMA’s junior doctors committee has suggested the deal and recommended their members vote for the deal. Some sources showedt hat junior doctors have been pushing for a 35% pay rise to make up for a long period of below-inflation salary increases.

Reeves in the House of Commons said industrial action in the NHS had cost the taxpayer £1.7 billion last year.

“Today signals a new relation between the governmenta nd NHS workers, which please the whole country”, she added. This year will fulfill the suggestion of independent pay review body to public sector and spend additional £9 billion, among which £3 billion is saved from other government departments. In addition, the government will temporarily cancel the employment of outside consultants in the future.

For health and social care, a project of “establishing 40 new hospitals in England by 2030” will be “comprehensively reviewed”. Besides, the Chancellor of the Excheque rstated that there will be no cap on personal care expenses in England before October 2025, as promised by the Labour Party during their campaign.

Dr. Robert Laurenson and Dr. Vivek Trivedi, co-chairman of BMA’s junior doctors committee, stated in a statement that this proposal is “a starting point to change current pay track”. They said, “It shouldn’t have wasted so much time to get to this point. But this suggestion indicated what results can be achieved when both parties negotiate in a constructive spirit.”

Representatives from large hospitals and other trust institutions also welcomed this proposal, and suggested that the government should no pass on the cost of pay rise higher than inflation to other frontline services.

The England media reported that the strike of junior doctors has overwhelmed the national healthcare system, leading to a surge in patients waiting for hospital treatment. The achievement of new protocol will pave the way for the end of junior doctors’ strike.