Hospital doctors to strike in dispute over pay

Hospital doctors in Northern Ireland have voted in favour of industrial action, in a dispute over pay.

The British Medical Association (BMA) balloted its members over a four-week period after doctors' leaders rejected a recommended 3.5% pay uplift from an independent pay body.

Two separate 24-hour walk outs will take place on Thursday 25 and Monday 29 June but emergency and critical care will not be affected. Planned operations and procedures will be postponed.

Speaking prior to the ballot result, Stormont's Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said unions were "entitled to ballot their members" but "compared to other public sector workers they haven't done badly over the last three years".

"Three groups of doctors have received pay rises of between 24% and 30% over that period and inflation in that time was around 11%.

"And can I do anything for them? I don't think I can," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme.

Resident doctors and consultants were balloted about pay, with 92% of resident doctors voting yes and 79% of consultants voting for strike action.

The result of the ballot of SAS doctors (specialist, associate specialist and specialty doctors) will be known on Friday 12 June.

Dr David Farren, chair of BMA Northern Ireland consultants committee, said the result "sends a very clear message that concerns about pay erosion, workload and the future of the profession are widely shared across the workforce, across all grades of hospital doctor".

"No one who voted in this ballot took this decision lightly; we know that from our conversations with members, but it's a clear indication from the doctors who actually deliver the health service in Northern Ireland exactly how serious the situation has become."