Hundreds of junior doctors take to streets of Manchester demanding fair pay
The rally took place whilst the Health Secretary was delivering a speech at an NHS event in the city
On the second day of a three-day strike, junior doctors flooded the streets of Manchester city centre, continuing their demand for a pay increase.
Outside the NHS ConfedExpo conference at Manchester Central, where Health Secretary Steve Barclay was set to deliver a speech, chants of “What do we want? Fair pay. When do we want it? Now” could be heard.
The rally happened amid the third round of industrial action from junior doctors this year, with previous walkouts having taken place in March and April.
Dr Emma Unswick, deputy chair of the British Medical Association council, told us why they are taking action: “We are here to let managers, but also Steve Barlcay who’s speaking here today, know that we are not going away. This fight for pay restoration, for our profession and for our patients is not going anywhere. And that they need to come back to the table with a credible offer.”
Strikers marched the streets alone, in groups and even with their children. Signs were scattered throughout the crowds with messages including: “Our colleagues died, your colleagues died” and “Cuts so steep even a surgeon can’t fix this”.
Dr Vivek Trivedi is the co-chair of the junior doctors committee for the BMA: “The government has to make a choice; it can either take responsibility and provide a functioning healthcare system, by appropriately funding wages so we can retain a workforce. Or, it has to be honest with the public about the poor standards of care that come when there’s continual, year after year of underfunding.”
Speaking outside the NHS ConfedExpo conference at Manchester Central, Dr Unswick urged junior doctors to take part in an upcoming ballot, to extend its strike mandate.
For the time being the mandate is set to expire in August and doctors have committed to three days of industrial action every month until then. If the mandate is extended, we could see further action, lasting into next spring.
Health secretary Steve Barclay said it was in his own "interests" for the dispute to come to a resolution and he stands ready for "further discussions" with junior doctors.
He told delegates at the nearby NHS ConfedExpo conference: "It's in my interest because of the five priorities that the Prime Minister has set out the one that sits with me - cutting the waiting times - obviously relies on us moving forward in terms of working closely with our clinicians, working effectively and how we address that.
"In terms of the junior doctors, we had three weeks of intensive discussions, we responded constructively to their request - which was to bring in a very experienced intermediary - but to date we haven't seen any movement at all from the 35% demand that the junior doctors have made.
"I think there needs to be movement on both sides."
My Barclay added: "We've set out as part of our discussions both a recognition of the offer that we've made into a lump sum, but our desire to work on a wider package with junior doctors.
"When I think of the other challenges that Government has, and when we reach these decisions on a cross-government basis: how we tackle the challenge on inflation; how we cut the debt, how we grow the economy, and we have got to balance that with the needs of the NHS.
"Within the NHS, we need to think not just the importance of pay, but the importance of the numbers, we also need to think about the importance of investing in the NHS estate.
"Then we also need to invest in tech.
"So, there's a combination of things, but we want to work constructively and stand ready to have further discussions."