NHS junior doctors strike in pictures as medics picket from sunrise in Newcastle
NHS doctors held placards invoking the spirit of Dolly Parton on strike on a cold January day – but said they work ‘9 to 9’ not ‘9 to 5’ NHS[1] doctors were on the picket line from dawn on a wintry January morning this week. As the sun rose they began the 29th day of industrial action across a dispute that has now lasted more than a year – and there is no sign of a breakthrough.
Medics on strike told ChronicleLive[2] how they’d hoped not to have to be in this position, but felt they had been forced into it by the Government’s latest “derisory” pay offer. Junior doctors part of the British Medical Association are seeking “full pay restoration” – which would see falls of around 26% in real-terms pay since 2008. Last year the Government imposed a pay deal that saw some medics get a rise of more than 8%, but the union feels this remains inadequate given years of below-inflation rises.
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The deputy chair of the BMA’s junior doctors committee Dr Sumi Manirajan was among those to attend the picket line in Newcastle – outside of the Royal Victoria Infirmary.
She had travelled from London to support local striking medics. Speaking to ChronicleLive[5], she said: “This dispute is now in its 14th month. This is our 29th day of strike action.
We have sent a really clear message to the Government. All we want is to get back to a baseline [compared to what junior doctors were once paid]. All we want is pay to be restored.”
One doctor even invoked the spirit of country singer Dolly Parton – with a sign highlighting: “Workin’ 9 to 9, it’s no way to make a living. Barely gettin’ by, it’s all takin’ and no givin’.” The Government pay offer for this year was just 3% and junior doctors announced new strike action, first before Christmas and then the six days currently ongoing in the first working week of January, in response.
The Government has said it cannot negotiate while strikes are planned, but the doctors have disputed this.
Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins has urged junior doctors to call off the strike and “come back to the negotiating table”.
References
- ^ NHS (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
- ^ ChronicleLive (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
- ^ The North East NHS in 2023: Strikes, rising waiting lists and the health service’s 75th birthday (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
- ^ Keep up to date with all the latest breaking news and top stories from the North East with our free newsletter (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
- ^ Speaking to ChronicleLive (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)