Hospital doctors in Northern Ireland have announced two strikes next month as a delayed Stormont budget holds up a recommended pay rise.
An independent body proposed a 3.5% uplift, which the health minister accepted, but doctors cannot receive it without a budget. The Northern Ireland Executive is seven months into the financial year without one. Doctors elsewhere in the UK have received the increase since April.
Resident doctors plan a 24-hour walkout on Friday 20 November. Consultants and specialists will provide a much-reduced service the following Monday. Clodagh Corrigan of the British Medical Association said the union was told at a meeting with the health minister two weeks ago that a rise would not come before Christmas, if it came at all.
The Royal College of Nursing has also opened a ballot on industrial action over the pay delay. Until now, emergency budget procedures had kept services running and wages paid, limiting the visible effects of the impasse.
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