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Junior doctors have voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3 per cent on average over two years.

Members of the British Medical Association backed the deal with two-thirds voting in favour.

It brings to an end the 18-month dispute which saw junior doctors take part in 11 separate strikes.

Industrial action in the NHS is estimated to have cost taxpayers around £1.7 billion during 2023 and 2024.

An offer was made in late July just weeks after Labour won the election.

Rises mean a doctor starting foundation training in the NHS will see base pay increase to £36,600, up from about £32,400.

A full-time doctor entering specialty training will have basic pay rise to £49,900 from about £43,900.

The deal includes a four per cent backdated pay rise for 2023-24, on top of the existing increase for the last financial year worth an average of nine per cent.

A further pay rise worth about eight per cent is being offered for 2024-25, as recommended by an independent pay review body.

That brings the total on average over the two years to roughly 22 per cent for each junior doctor, with the lowest paid set to receive the largest increases.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he is “pleased” the British Medical Association (BMA) has accepted the Government’s pay deal.

He added: “We inherited a broken NHS, the most devastating dispute in the health service’s history, and negotiations hadn’t taken place with the previous ministers since March.

About two-thirds of junior doctors voted for the pay deal (Jordan Pettitt/PA) PA Wire

“Things should never have been allowed to get this bad. That’s why I made ending the strikes a priority, and we negotiated an end to them in just three weeks.

“I am pleased that our offer has been accepted, ending the strikes ahead of looming winter pressures on the NHS.

“This marks the necessary first step in our mission to cut waiting lists, reform the broken health service, and make it fit for the future.”

In a statement to the media, the union said: “The BMA’s junior doctors committee (JDC) in England has accepted the Government’s pay offer, with 66 per cent of junior doctors voting in favour of the deal."

The statement added: “Outside the pay negotiations, the Government has agreed that from September 18 ‘junior doctors’ across the UK will be known as ‘resident doctors’ to better reflect their expertise.

“This follows a motion to the BMA’s annual policy making conference in 2023 when doctors voted in favour of a name change.”

BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said: “It should never have taken so long to get here, but we have shown what can be accomplished with our determination and with a government willing to simply sit down and talk realistically about a path to pay restoration. One strike was one strike too many.

“This deal marks the end of 15 years of pay erosion with the beginning of two years of modest above inflation pay rises. There is still a long way to go, with doctors remaining 20.8% in real terms behind where we were in 2008.

“Mr Streeting has acknowledged our pay has fallen behind and has talked about a journey to pay restoration.

“He believes the independent pay review body is the right vehicle for this, and if he is right then no doctor need strike over pay in future.

“However, in the event the pay review body disappoints, he needs to be prepared for the consequences.

“The resident doctors committee, as we will be called, will be using the next months to prepare to build on their success so that future cohorts of doctors never again need to see the kind of pay cuts we have.

“We thank all doctors who have seen us through to this point by standing on picket lines and fighting for their worth. The campaign is not over, but we, and they, can be proud of how far we have come.”

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