Junior doctors strike today: Picket lines to appear outside hospitals as union says workers ‘can make more serving coffee than saving patients’
- Junior doctors, who make up 40% of the NHS workforce, are striking for 72 hours
- It is being billed as the ‘worst strike’ in the National Health Service’s history
- Has your op been disrupted strikes? Contact [email protected]
Picket lines are set to appear outside hospitals in England today as tens of thousands of junior doctors walk out of their jobs in an ongoing dispute over pay.
Up to 60,000 medics are expected to go on strike for three days from 7am today, potentially causing ‘significant and lasting impact’ on cancer care, as they demand an inflation-busting 35 per cent pay rise.
The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents the group, has claimed there is widespread discontent among the profession at their pay and says that its members could earn more money ‘serving coffee than saving patients’.
The Government has accused the union of not engaging with it and declining to enter negotiations like it has with other health unions.
The 72-hour strike could even impact on Accident & Emergency departments, potentially leaving them undermanned – although the BMA insists it will be ‘no different to any other day’.
Protesters gather on Warren Street, London, on Saturday to call for pay rises for junior doctors, nurses and other NHS staff
Vivek Trivedi (left) and Rob Laurenson (right), co-chairs of the BMA’s junior doctor’s committee, speak to the media after a meeting with Health Secretary Steve Barclay on March 2
Public sector unions have criticised the Government over its handling of the pay disputes, which have been escalating for months.
Progress has been made in Wales and Scotland after negotiations with ministers, but unions say the Westminster Government is taking a completely different approach.
The BMA said newly qualified medics earn £14.09 an hour, less than a barista in a coffee shop, adding that junior doctors in England will have suffered a 26% real-terms cut to their pay since 2008/09.
An advertising campaign launched by the trade union says: ‘Pret a Manger has announced it will pay up to £14.10 per hour. A junior doctor makes just £14.09.
‘Thanks to this Government you can make more serving coffee than saving patients. This week junior doctors will take strike action so they are paid what they are worth.’
Dr Becky Bates, a first-year junior doctor in the Midlands, said: ‘I thought by being a doctor I would be able to achieve financial independence, but instead I am still completely dependent on others.
READ MORE HERE: NHS braces for ‘worst strike in its history’ tomorrow in three-day action set to have ‘significant and lasting impact on cancer care’
‘With tuition fee loans, credit cards and personal loans, I’ve left medical school with over £100,000 debt, and now my wages are not even enough to allow me to fix my car when something goes wrong.
‘I come from a single-parent family. I don’t come from money, yet at 28 I am relying on my mother taking out credit card debt so I can meet these expenses. It’s humiliating for me and it’s not fair on her.
‘As a junior doctor, I can be responsible for more than 400 patients overnight – assessing them, prescribing medication, having really difficult conversations with families about end-of-life care, and I am the first port of call should something go terribly wrong. Yet our skills and responsibilities are completely devalued.
‘My situation is far from unique, and this is why me and the overwhelming majority of my colleagues have been forced to take to the picket line this week.’
Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, said: ‘Is £14.09 an hour really all junior doctors are worth? These are people who can be providing life-saving care, having trained intensively at medical school, and racking up around £100,000 worth of debt in the process.
‘We are fully supportive of any worker getting an inflation-matching pay rise, and it is worth thinking on the fact that the Government has cut junior doctors’ pay by so much that they could earn more serving coffee.
‘Is it any surprise that junior doctors are looking for jobs abroad or in other fields when the Government is telling them they are worth more than a quarter less than they were in 2008?
‘Losing such valuable clinicians to other countries and professions when waiting lists are at record highs means patients will suffer even more than they are already.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, pictured here speaking to reporters on a plane to San Diego on Sunday, said it was ‘very disappointing’ the BMA had not agreed to negotiations
Health Secretary Steve Barclay, pictured here outside Downing Street, said he wants to find a ‘fair settlement which recognises the crucial role of junior doctors’
‘This is why doctors are going on strike. We are fighting to restore our pay. We are fighting to restore our value. We are fighting to restore our workforce to make the NHS an effective healthcare system again.’
READ MORE HERE: Junior doctors will be able to work part time if strikes lead to a large pay rise, union boss tells colleagues
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters on his flight to the US: ‘It is very disappointing that the junior doctors’ union are not engaging with the Government.
‘We are actually having constructive dialogue with other unions who have accepted our offer to come in and talk through it.
‘As you have seen with rail… they have put an offer to their members, we are having constructive dialogue with the nurses’ unions and all the other healthcare unions and I would urge the junior doctors to follow suit, and accept the Government’s offer to come in and have talks, the other unions have done that and we are making progress.’
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: ‘It is incredibly disappointing the British Medical Association (BMA) has declined my offer to enter formal pay negotiations on the condition strikes are paused.
‘I hugely value the hard work of junior doctors and urge unions to come to the negotiating table and cancel strikes which risk patient safety and impact efforts to tackle the backlog. I want to find a fair settlement which recognises the crucial role of junior doctors and the wider economic pressures facing the UK.
‘I’ve been having constructive and meaningful talks with unions representing nurses, ambulance workers and other non-medical staff, which have agreed to pause strike action, and negotiations will continue this week.
‘We have been working closely with NHS England on contingency plans to help protect patient safety during strikes, prioritising emergency, urgent and critical care – but there will inevitably be some disruption for patients.’
NHS leaders have said they are very worried that the walkout by junior doctors will take disruption caused by recent strikes to the next level, posing a risk to patient safety and setting back work to bear down on care backlogs.
Talks between the Government and other health unions will continue this week, holding out hope of a breakthrough in the long-running NHS pay dispute.
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