DOCTORS in Wales will be balloted on strike action over pay.

BMA Cymru Wales will ballot consultant and specialist, associate specialist and speciality (SAS) doctor members in Wales from Monday, January 22, on whether they wish to take strike action over pay.  

The ballots, which will be open to all BMA consultant and SAS doctor members in Wales, are set to run concurrently for six weeks closing on March 4.

The decision to ballot members comes after the BMA rejected the Welsh Government’s first and final pay offer for the 2023/24 financial year for those working in secondary care.

For consultants and SAS doctors on closed contracts the offer was five per cent; SAS doctors on more recent contracts offers were from 2.5 per cent.

BMA Cymru Wales has said this offer left the union with no choice but to enter a trade dispute and ballot for strike action.