As junior doctors walked out on the longest strike action in NHS history they say public support for them is strong as they take to the picket lines.
Across England today, junior doctors say industrial action is the “only thing’ the government listens to as their dispute with the government over pay and working conditions continues.
Junior doctors in England are staging industrial action for six consecutive days in a major escalation of their bitter dispute with the Government over pay.
Currently junior doctors earn between £15 and £17 per hour, but they are asking the government for a 35 per cent pay rise which would see the hourly rate increased to around £20 an hour, however the government has refused this and were locked in talks for five weeks last year with the British Medical Association (BMA) but strikes were called after talks broke down.
Junior doctors spoke to Lisa Hartle
GB NEWS
Medics insisted that Health Secretary Victoria Atkins had “pushed” them out of the negotiation room.
Speaking from a picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London, Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chair of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, said there was “no good time to strike”, but added that “we need to recognise that we have a massive workforce crisis”.
Junior doctors insist the public is with them
GB NEWS
He added that the strikes were necessary because they are “the only thing that the Government understands with regards to being able to work with a workforce”.
Dr Laurenson added: “The only reason the Government will even entertain talks with us is because we have strike action.”
Members of the public spoke to GB News outside St Thomas’ Hospital pledging their support for the junior doctors. One woman who was just leaving the hospital said “I think doctors deserve more, they’re literally saving lives. We are so grateful to them, we are here [at the hospital] all the time and it’s fair to want more because they all study so much.”
Asked specifically about the strike action the doctors are taking and she added, “strike action is not great but it’s a way for them to be heard I guess”.
Another woman said with the pressures of inflation being felt “they do deserve [a pay-rise] but on the other side they should thank god they have a job because some people don’t even have a job.”
One junior doctor on the picket line in London said many NHS workers are moving overseas to places like Australia where they can earn more money and working conditions are better and more will consider this if pay is not improved.
Dr Georgia Blackwell, 28, said she thought that junior doctors moving to other countries was “increasingly an issue”.
She said: “A lot of doctors are moving to Australia – not just because of the pay, but also the work-life balance is better.”
One member of the public from Australia walking past the junior doctors on the picket line said she couldn’t believe the amount the doctors earn and said it’s “not right”.
She told GB News that her daughter working part-time in a fast-food restaurant in Australia earns more than the junior doctors here in the UK.
Junior doctors in England are set to continue their strike until 7am on Tuesday 9th January, during strike action the government say they will not enter negotiations.