(Bloomberg) -- Senior doctors in England accepted an improved pay offer from the government, bringing an end to strikes that have dragged on for more than a year.

About 83% of consultants who took part in the British Medical Association’s referendum voted in favor of the offer, which the trade union said in a statement was an improvement from the proposal rejected in January. 

The deal brings some relief to the National Health Service, which has faced lengthy and disruptive strikes in recent months, while it attempts to stymie a waiting list that’s in excess of 7 million people. 

It is also a boost for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose mission to cut NHS waiting lists has been hampered by the pay disputes. He welcomed the news of consultants accepting the pay offer and pointed to falling waiting lists.

The offer for senior doctors includes changes to the industry’s pay review body and changes to the consultant pay scale. The Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association also accepted the deal.

Although the strike action will officially end, the issue of doctor’s pay is unlikely to be fully resolved.

“The fight is not yet over,” Vishal Sharma, chair of the BMA consultants committee, said in the statement, adding that the focus will be on next year’s pay round. “This is only the end of the beginning, and we have some way to go before the pay consultants have lost over the last 15 years has been restored,” he said.

Meanwhile, strikes are set to continue for junior doctors, who voted in favor of industrial action in March. Specialist doctors rejected the government’s pay offer earlier this year. 

“Hugely disruptive and costly strikes in the NHS can’t become ‘business as usual’,” said Julian Hartley, Chief Executive Officer of NHS Providers, the membership organization for hospitals and other services. “Remaining concerns must be resolved. Industrial action takes a toll on patients, staff and stretched services.” 

Despite the drop in people waiting for care, the list still exceeds 7.7 million people, with a survey out Wednesday from the Office for National Statistics indicating that 21% of adult respondents were waiting for an appointment or treatment on the NHS.  

It’s not only the health sector that has faced strikes. Train drivers are currently on strike, with rolling industrial action plaguing the rail network in recent months. The continuing strikes have posed a challenge to Sunak as a general election looms, with polls painting a dire picture for his Conservative Party. 

(Updates with more detail throughout.)

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