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The four-day junior doctor strike is the “most significant strike the NHS has ever had to manage”, according to Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation.
The strike began today (Tuesday 11 April) at 07:00 AM BST and is due to end at 07:00 AM BST on Saturday 15 April. With around a quarter of consultants on leave due to the Easter holidays, NHS staff have been asked to prioritise emergency and urgent care over some routine appointments and procedures.
Up to 250,000 operations and appointments are expected to be postponed during the period of strike action, something Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS in England, says will cause “unparalleled levels of disruption”.
“This is set to be the most disruptive industrial action in NHS history, and the strikes will bring immense pressures, coming on the back of a challenged extended bank holiday weekend for staff and services. Emergency, urgent and critical care will be prioritised but some patients will unfortunately have had their appointments postponed – if you haven’t, please do continue to come forward,” he said.
Steve Barclay says BMA must change pay demands
Junior doctors say they are ready to discuss pay with the health secretary, Steve Barclay, and that he can stop the strikes at any time if he proposes a “credible” pay offer.
Mr Barclay said he is open to discussing a fair pay deal, but says the current pay demands are “unrealistic” and he sees “no prospect” of constructive talks beginning unless the BMA changes its stance.
Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Barclay said pay demands by junior doctors were “out of step with pay settlements in other parts of the public sector” and claimed some doctors could receive an extra £20,000 a year if wage demands were met.
Three doctors paid just £66.55 to perform a potentially life-saving operation
Junior doctors are calling on the government for a full pay restoration, which they say has been cut by over a quarter in real terms over the last 15 years.
Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs say this is “not a high price to pay for healthcare that junior doctors deliver”.
A new advertising campaign by the Association highlights that three junior doctors with 10, seven and one-years’ experience would be paid just £28, £24.46, and £14.09 respectively to remove a patient’s appendix – this is a total of just £66.55 for a potentially life-saving procedure that requires a great deal of skill, concentration and care.
The campaign asks: “Is this a fair price to provide patients with high quality healthcare?” The pay rise junior doctors are asking for would see junior doctors be paid around £90 for the procedure, something Dr Trivedi and Dr Laurenson say is still “extremely good value for a surgical emergency.”
Junior doctors can undergo up to 18 years of training before reaching consultant level
The BMA’s new campaign also highlights that the word ‘junior’ does not accurately reflect the experience of many junior doctors.
After completing anywhere from four to six years at university, junior doctors undergo an average of 10 years training (a range of eight to 12 years) before they become a consultant. Junior doctors can therefore be very experienced, with some undergoing 18 years of training (including university) before being promoted to a consultant.
Dr Jennifer Barclay, a surgical doctor in the North West, said: “There is nothing ‘junior’ about the work I have done as a doctor. I’ll be trying to focus on steady, controlled hand movements, thinking about the next steps and communicating with the rest of the team. Meanwhile, my bleep is going off incessantly in the background with more and more patients waiting to be seen as soon as I get out of theatre. For that hour of work that might save a life I can be paid £19.”
“I’ll be working a busy on-call shift; treating unwell patients, assessing new patients, consenting and preparing patients for surgery and answering never ending bleeps, when we have to run to theatre. I haven’t had time to eat or nip to the loo and I know I’ll be in theatre for around an hour … Surely, this life, the training, responsibility, debt and crushing workload is worth more than £19 per hour? I’ll be on the picket line this week because doctors believe that it is.”