England's junior doctors strike for the fifth time
Some doctors have only been in the job for nine days
The fifth round of junior doctors strikes in England have begun tody, with some new doctors only being nine days into their first NHS jobs.
Foundation Year 1 doctors started their first roles after medical school on Wednesday 2nd August – just nine days ago.
But today many junior doctors start four days of industrial action amid the bitter dispute with the Government over pay.
Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee, said: “We are now at the stage where a whole new cohort of junior doctors is entering the profession, only to be immediately given no choice by the Government but to go on strike for their future.
“The Government should be ashamed that this is the state of the profession they are presenting to our newest doctors.
“If they want a health service that retains this talent for decades to come, they need to come to the table – not in weeks, not in months, but today. This dispute should never have gone on so long.”
They added that the BMA’s “door remains open for talks at any time” with the Government.
Impacts of the junior doctors strike
Concerns have also been mounting over the impact of the strike after a High Court ruling which means the NHS cannot seek support from agency staff, as was the case during previous strikes.
The ruling in July concluded that employers could not use agency workers to fill in for striking staff.
While the NHS can use its own bank staff, NHS England pointed to the “additional challenge” posed to the service during this round of strikes.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay warned that patients are “bearing the brunt of the impact of continuous strikes” and the latest spell “will cause more appointments and procedures to be postponed”.
He added: “My door is always open to discuss how to improve doctors’ working lives, but this pay award is final so I urge the BMA to end its strikes immediately.”
NHS representatives have expressed dismay over the ongoing fallout from industrial action.
So far, almost 835,000 appointments have been postponed as a result of industrial action since December across the health service in England, according to NHS figures.
But NHS Confederation said the true level of disruption is being “masked” and, in a worst-case scenario, the number of cancellations could be double this number.
Many hospitals have stopped booking in routine activity on potential strike days to prevent causing more disruption to patients on waiting lists, it said.