Consultants and SAS doctors in Wales to vote on strike action

iStock/Ralf Geithe

By Sarah Lowden

Consultant and specialist, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctors working for the NHS in Wales are to vote on whether to strike over pay.

The British Medical Association has rejected the Welsh Government’s first and final pay offer for the 2023/24 financial year for secondary care doctors.

BMA Cymru Wales' statement reads: "For consultants and SAS doctors on closed contracts the offer was 5%; SAS doctors on more recent contracts received as little as 1.5%."

"Over the last 15 years, consultants and SAS doctors in Wales have experienced a pay cut of almost a third since 2008/9. They received another sub-inflationary pay offer from the Welsh Government for 2023-24 which is below the recommendation made by the DDRB and is the worst offer in the UK."

Consultant and SAS doctors make up over half (54%) of the hospital-based medical workforce combined, with 3,137 Consultants and 1,088 SAS doctors working in hospitals across Wales, according to StatsWales.