LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) – Resident doctors in England have voted to accept the government’s latest pay and job offer, their union said on Monday, bringing an end to a long-running industrial dispute that has disrupted the National Health Service.
The British Medical Association said 53% of its eligible members had backed the package in a referendum following the suspension of strike action earlier this month. Turnout was 57%, with 32,932 doctors voting.
The doctors have decided that the current offer “is sufficient to continue on the road to pay restoration, and sufficient to address the absurd lack of jobs” in the NHS, Dr Jack Fletcher said in the statement. “The strikes will now end.”
The result brings an end to the dispute that began in 2023 with the previous Conservative government and led to more than a dozen rounds of industrial action.
Health Minister James Murray said in a statement the agreement allowed all parties “to draw a line under the disruption of previous months and focus on getting on with the job of rebuilding our health service.”
The government awarded resident doctors a 3.5% pay rise for 2026/27 and asked them to approve a wider package that would increase pay by an average of 6.6% by April 2027 and introduce reforms to training and career progression.
Resident doctors had argued their pay had fallen significantly in real terms since 2008, fuelling the dispute, which has continued under successive governments.
Murray had said the package was designed to address concerns over pay and staffing while remaining affordable for the health service.
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Additional reporting by Muvija M; Editing by Jan Harvey, Alexandra Hudson)
