13 June 2026

Dear colleagues,

As you know, since the beginning of this year a small team led by Sir Glen Burley and Prof Meghana Pandit have been working closely with leaders of the BMA’s Resident Doctor Committee to try to secure a deal to bring the current dispute to an end.

As we discussed on our call yesterday, intense discussions have been going on for the last few weeks and today the BMA have agreed to ballot their members on the current deal.

Importantly, the BMA have agreed to suspend industrial action due to begin on Monday 15 June: something I know you, your teams, and your patients will welcome.

I recognise how much effort will have gone in over recent days to fill resident doctor rotas and ensure that no appointments are cancelled unless there was absolutely no alternative. I would ask that we now do everything possible to stand down additional shifts and overtime and reinstate any cancelled appointments. Given tomorrow is Sunday, I know this will be challenging, but anything we can do to retrieve the situation from Tuesday onwards is now critical.

While the deal could not improve on the pay offer for this financial year that has been on the table since March 2026, it does recognise in future years some of the additional costs unique to resident doctors, including those in clinical academic posts.

Importantly it does create significantly enhanced career progression opportunities and real improvements to the training experience for resident doctors. It commits us all to improve the contracts and circumstances for locally employed doctors (LEDs). We will set out the terms of the deal clearly for you in the coming days.

We will arrange for a call with you for Monday with Glen, Meghana, Jo Lenaghan, and Danny Mortimer to talk through the deal in detail.

The next few weeks are critical: we all have to pull together to show what we’ve delivered to improve working lives of resident doctors locally and promote the deal. Building on the work you’ve all undertaken on delivering the 10 Point Plan, can you please ensure you are working closely with your local resident doctor leads in the days ahead to begin the process of planning for Year 2 of the 10 Point Plan.

You’ll all be acutely aware of the importance of this moment – it gives us a real opportunity to come back together and build on the improvements you and your teams have all made in the last year. Thanks for your continued commitment and leadership on all of this.

Keep going….

Yours sincerely,

Sir Jim Mackey
Chief Executive Officer
NHS England