Junior Doctors are due to strike once again due to concerns over pay.

The five-day strike will take place between 7am on Thursday 13 July and 7am on Tuesday 18 July and is thought to be the longest single period of industrial action in the history of the health service.

According to the British Medical Association, pay has decreased by more than a quarter since 2008 when inflation is taken into account – and many doctors are feeling burnout from an increasing workload.

It said there was no option but to take action and strike as the governments 5% pay offer was way below the 35% which was demanded.

The government has said this figure is entirely unreasonable and the strikes risk patient safety and will lead to more treatments being postponed.

Thousands of appointments and pre-planned operations will now be disrupted as more Senior Doctors step up, with emergency and critical care being prioritised.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It puts patient safety and our efforts to cut waiting lists at risk. It is obviously extremely disappointing.

“In the meeting the Government had with Junior Doctors, we made a fair and reasonable opening offer.

“We were discussing both pay and non-pay issues. But they chose to end the talks by announcing new strike dates.

“Obviously if they cancel damaging and disruptive strikes and show willingness to move away from their starting positions and find a way forward, then we will be able to proceed with those discussions.”

Junior Doctors are qualified but are still in the process of years of training to become a specialist and make up around 45% of the NHS medical workforce, with two thirds members of the BMA.

Over half of Junior Doctors surveyed by the union said they had received job offers from overseas recruiters.

Junior Doctors previously went on strike this year for three days earlier this month. It followed a four-day strike in April and three-day walkout in March. 


Source: Sky News