THE FIGHT GOES ON

The Government’s refusal to enter meaningful pay talks with junior doctors in England has only intensified their push for a fair settlement.

By Seren Boyd and Peter Blackburn

For all the cheers and camaraderie at the recent BMA rally in Oxford, none of the junior doctors taking part wanted to be there. But they felt they had no choice.

On the first day of their latest 72-hour strike, the message from the doctors and placards assembled in Bonn Square was clear: We have no option but to strike. Things cannot go on like this.

‘Going on strike is an absolute last resort,’ said event organiser Matt Bilton, a locum doctor working in emergency medicine. ‘But morale is at rock bottom: it couldn’t be any worse. And it has been this way for a long time. We have reached the point where, if we do nothing, then nothing changes.’

Four months in to the junior doctors’ industrial action, the Government has made only a 5 per cent pay offer in response to the BMA’s demand for full pay restoration. But junior doctors’ resolve is not wavering.

In Oxford, there was no sign public support for them was wavering either: buses and cars honked their support; a busker used his microphone to urge the Government to pay

WINTER: doctors more; an older passerby hijacked the microphone to demand the same.

‘Last cry for help’ However, there is a price to pay for strike action, and not just in lost earnings.

Laura Wilkins, a foundation year 1 doctor in the Thames Valley deanery, is one of the juniors paid £14 an hour for a 48-hour-plus week.

Staff shortages – including frequent planned rota gaps – mean she can be left carrying the crash bleep on a night shift, responsible for all medical emergencies in the hospital. She is committed to striking – but wishes she didn’t have to.

‘This is the last cry for help to try and rescue our profession,’ she said. ‘[Striking] is horrible: it’s not a thing anyone does lightly.

‘But it’s so demoralising as a doctor not to be able to provide safe and effective care for patients, day in, day out. It’s awful. I want them to get the world-class care we can provide if there’s enough of us.’

Fellow striker Richard Shoulder, a core trainee 1, spoke of feeling ‘guilt’ about joining the stoppage – but insists change is non-negotiable.

‘I hated leaving work yesterday knowing that we’re leaving colleagues to pick up the slack,’ said Dr Shoulder. ‘Everyone striking here today probably has relatives and friends on waiting lists. We all feel conflicted. But we have tried to make ourselves heard, and people aren’t listening.

‘We’re at a crisis point in terms of numbers,’ he said. ‘You have to stop people leaving: you can’t magic up these skilled professionals, people who want to do this job and who bring the right characteristics to do the job well.’

Show of solidarity

In several other cities, junior doctors joined BMA rallies, demonstrations and marches as part of June’s three-day walk-out. The sense of solidarity was as strong as people’s anger at government intransigence.

This latest strike coincided with the publication of a BMA survey of junior doctors in England, which found the Government’s inadequate response had left 89 per cent of respondents ‘feeling less valued than they were before the dispute started’.

In Manchester, hundreds of junior doctors staged a rally outside the NHS ConfedExpo conference, where health secretary Steve Barclay gave a speech.

Maleeha Malik, an F1 in north Manchester, said she felt ‘completely demoralised’ by the Government’s lack of response.

‘I don’t think they care about anyone. But we feel together.’

Addressing the rally, BMA junior doctors committee co-chair Vivek Trivedi spoke of his colleagues’ ‘unwavering determination’ to press on.

‘The road ahead may be bumpy, and sacrifices will have to be made, but if we continue united, we will be victorious.’

Rebecca Vitarana, another F1 in north Manchester, agreed: ‘This definitely has given me a sense of hope. This is not just for money: we don’t want to feel desperation every day at work. This is about more doctors staying so the NHS is safer.’

Meanwhile, in Birmingham, more than 1,000 people joined a lively rally in Centenary Square, with music, speeches, media crews, cheers and chanting, before marching around the city centre.

As BMA regional coordinator and event organiser Melanie Sutton said in her speech, the show of unity demonstrated commitment: ‘Solidarity is the way that we will win this fight.’

Speaking later to The Doctor, she said: ‘So many members of the public came up and said they supported us. The message of £14 an hour has really struck a chord, and people understand that delays at hospitals are the Government’s fault and are a political choice.’

Two female junior doctors, who wanted to remain anonymous, interrupted their journey from the picket line to the Birmingham rally to help a man with a serious head wound who had fallen in the road. They used a BMA flag to staunch the flow of blood until an ambulance arrived.

‘The way they selflessly intervened demonstrates the level of responsibility they feel, all day every day,’ said Mrs Sutton.

In Bristol, a patient left his hospital bed to join the picket line for a time.

Continued action

Junior doctors are being re-balloted about continuing industrial action beyond August.

In his speech to the Oxford rally last month, Dr Bilton, chair of the BMA Thames Valley regional junior doctors committee, urged his colleagues to vote in favour of more strikes and voiced his frustration with politicians on all sides.

‘It is an outrage that we face no choice other than to be here today in the city centre, rather than at work,’ said Dr Bilton.

‘Rishi Sunak puts his hands in his pockets, has a rummage around, and offers 5 per cent, pocket change. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer calls for more medical students, missing the point entirely. Fix the leaky bucket by pouring more water in? Good one.

‘We all know that the status quo cannot continue. We must hold out for a pay deal that will retain doctors in the UK and the NHS.

‘We’re not just standing up for ourselves: we’re standing up for the future of the profession in this country. Let’s tell them again. Let’s keep on telling them until they hear us.’

Listening to this speech, F1 Molly Winter held a placard referring to the £93bn of ‘pandemic waste’, including £4bn of unusable personal protective equipment, and to the £30bn cost of Liz Truss’s disastrous ‘mini-budget’.

‘Money is produced for the projects the Government cares about, and they should care about this,’ said Dr Winter, who was a graduate medical student.

‘Yesterday I sat on a stepladder at work because there aren’t even enough chairs. I’m someone who came into medicine because I care. I’m not going to follow the money and go somewhere else. I want to be in the NHS,

‘I want to fight for the NHS. This is about pay restoration, good working conditions and, ultimately, it’s for the patients.’ bma.org.uk/thedoctor

A further five days of industrial action in England was planned by junior doctors from 13 to 18 July, after The Doctor went to press, and consultants are due to strike for 48 hours from 7am on 20 July, providing Christmas Day-levels of cover.

There was an 86 per cent vote for industrial action amongst consultants, with a 71 per cent turnout.

BMA consultants committee chair Vishal Sharma says: ‘We know consultants don’t take the decision around industrial action lightly, but this vote shows how furious they are at being repeatedly devalued by Government. Consultants are not worth a third less than we were 15 years ago and have had enough.’

Meanwhile, junior doctors in Scotland have agreed to suspend strike action after being offered a 12.4 pay rise in 2023/24. For the following three years, the Scottish Government has committed to negotiate further annual pay rises on top of inflation.

The BMA Scottish junior doctors committee has recommended members accept the offer.