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Junior doctors in Wales will vote next month on strike action, despite a 5% pay increase for this year from the Welsh Government.

Doctors’ union the British Medical Association will ballot junior doctors from November 6 until December 18 on a potential 72-hour walkout.

BMA Cymru Wales argue that junior doctors in Wales have experienced a pay cut of 29.6% in real terms over the last 15 years.

The BMA has rejected the 5% uplift for consultants, junior, and specialty and associate specialist (SAS) doctors. Consultants and SAS doctors agreed to vote on strike action earlier this year, but dates for the ballot has yet to be announced.

The 5% in Wales is the lowest pay increase of the UK nations. In England doctors were offered a 6% rise in July. The Doctors and Dentist Pay Review Body had recommended a 6% increase.

In a joint statement, the co-chairs of the BMA’s Welsh junior doctor committee, Dr Oba Babs-Osibodu and Dr Peter Fahey said: “The Welsh Government’s failure to value junior doctors and reverse years of pay erosion has forced us to enter a trade dispute.

“Junior doctors are embarking upon their careers shouldering significant student debts and facing increasing financial pressures.

“It is hardly surprising that the latest sub-inflationary offer from Welsh Government has made junior doctors feel angry, unvalued, and unwilling to continue with the current trajectory.

“A junior doctor is not worth up to a third less today than they were in 2008, and yet this is the amount of pay erosion that we are facing. The continued erosion of our pay coupled with the extraordinary pressures now facing the NHS has resulted in a perfect storm.

“Many of our colleagues are questioning whether to remain in the NHS, looking further afield for opportunities where their expertise and dedication are properly valued.

“This is not a decision we have made lightly. No doctor wants to take industrial action, but we have been given no choice. Doctors are already voting with their feet and leaving the NHS”

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “It is disappointing that doctors are balloting for industrial action. We understand the strength of feeling among doctors about the 5% pay offer and the pressures all public sector workers are under due to the cost-of-living crisis.

“While we would wish to address the pay restoration ambitions of our vital medical staff, our offer is at the limits of the finances available to us and reflects the position reached with the other health unions for this year.  Without additional funding from the UK Government, we are not in a position to currently offer any more. We will continue to press them to pass on the funding necessary for full and fair pay rises for public sector workers.”