Thousands of doctors are calling for strike action over the Government’s 3 per cent pay rise offer for NHS staff in England which they have condemned as “shambolic and derisory”.

The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), a grassroots lobbying organisation, said it was dismayed at the award which it said represented a real-terms pay cut as inflation is estimated to be 3.7 per cent this year. The influential group said it was “an insult” to describe the offer as fair “at a time when doctors have given their lives and livelihoods” to the coronavirus pandemic, with no clear end in sight.

It said the Government’s decision to exclude junior doctors from the offer, who make up more than 50 per cent of doctors in the NHS, was “callous in view of the large number of doctors in training who have worked tirelessly” since Covid-19 struck.

The group said it consulted members on Wednesday night and an overwhelming majority supported industrial action. DAUK plan to hold an emergency meeting with members soon to formulate its next steps.

DAUK chair Dr Jenny Vaughan said: “Any improvement on the derisory 1 per cent previously offered to NHS workers is welcomed, but 3 per cent barely takes the edge off the erosion of doctors’ pay over two decades. Doctors in the NHS have suffered a 30 per cent pay cut in real terms, and after inflation this ‘pay rise’ will ultimately be a pay freeze.

“DAUK’s campaign ‘fair say for fair pay’ demonstrated the extremes staff have been put through during the pandemic – the effects of which are only starting to be realised. It is time to pay and we hope the [doctors’ unions] British Medical Association and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association as well as allied health professional unions will join us in voicing our discontent – including taking industrial action.”

Health unions are to consult their members regarding industrial action following the pay offer. Nurses, paramedics, consultants, dentists and salaried GPs come under the new pay deal, which is three times higher than the Government’s initial 1 per cent offer.

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Thousands of doctors have condemned the government’s “shambolic and derisory” 3 per cent pay rise offer to NHS staff in England, threatening industrial action as Covid hospitalisations soar.

Lobbying organisation The Doctors’ Assocation (DAUK) said the 3 per cent offered “does not come close to what staff deserve” and was an “insult” from the government when the NHS has been immensely challenged by the pandemic.

DAUK also said the pay offer represents a pay cut in real terms, as inflation this year is estimated at 3.7 per cent.

The pay rise covers nurses, paramedics, consultants, dentists and salaried GPs. But crucially, it does not cover England’s 61,000 junior doctors – who make up more than 50 per cent of doctors in the NHS.

Junior doctors are three quarters of the way through a separate four-year deal that gives them 2 per cent pay rises each year, but their exclusion from the 3 per cent rise was “callous in view of the large number of doctors in training who have worked tirelessly through the pandemic,” the DAUK said in a statement.

Many have been called away from their area of expertise and had to cover rota gaps due to continuous under-staffing – especially during the ongoing “pingdemic”.

One junior doctor told City A.M that the pay rise “forgot everyone who’s had their training disrupted during the pandemic or been called up early from medical school.”

But asked if the pay row would risk a repeat of the junior doctor strikes in 2015 and 2016, they said: “It’s not like the last strike, as there’s an ongoing pandemic now.”

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Having worked under extreme pressure for the last year, should the Government’s pay rise for NHS staff not recognise this?

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