Junior doctors to demonstrate outside Senedd as strike action continues
A three day junior doctor walkout is underway in Wales
Last updated 16th Jan 2024
Hundreds of junior doctors are expected to demonstrate outside the Senedd in Cardiff Bay later.
It comes on the second day of strike action by BMA Cymru members in their row with the Welsh Government over pay.
Medics say wages have been eroded by a third since 2008/9.
Industrial action started at 0700 on Monday and runs until 0700 Thursday morning.
The Welsh NHS Confederation, which represents health boards in Wales, said the action is taking place on one of the "most pressurised weeks of the year, following recent weeks of significant winter pressures".
Dr Oba Babs-Osibodu and Dr Peter Fahey, co-chairs of BMA Cymru Wales's junior doctors committee, said: "No doctor wants to strike. We had hoped the Welsh Government had properly understood the strength of feeling amongst junior doctors in Wales.
"Sadly, their inaction over this matter has led us here...demoralised, frustrated and angry.
"After years of undervaluing our lifesaving service we feel we've been left with no choice but to stand up for the profession and say enough is enough, we cannot and will not accept the unacceptable anymore.
"Our members have been forced to take this difficult decision because junior doctors in Wales have experienced a pay cut of 29.6% in real terms over the last 15 years.
"A doctor starting their career in Wales will earn as little as £13.65 an hour and for that they could be performing lifesaving procedures and taking on huge levels of responsibility.
"We aren't asking for a pay rise - we are asking for our pay to be restored in line with inflation back to 2008 levels, when we began to receive pay cuts in real terms.
"Pay needs to be fair and competitive with other healthcare systems across the world to retain and recruit doctors and NHS staff to provide much-needed care."
The health minister said pay restoration for junior doctors in Wales is impossible without a significant increase in funding from the UK Government.
"We are disappointed junior doctors have voted for industrial action, but we understand the strength of feeling among BMA members," Ms Morgan said.
"We would like to address their pay restoration ambitions, but the pay award offer we have made is at the limits of the finances available to us and reflects the position reached with the other unions.
"We continue to press the UK Government to pass on the funding necessary to provide full and fair pay rises for public sector workers.
"The UK Government has failed, over the last 13 years, to properly fund public services.
"The Welsh Government's budget in 2024 to 2025 would be £3 billion higher if it had grown in line with the economy since 2010.
"Because of the recent inflation shock, our settlement next year is worth up to £1.3 billion less in real terms than expected when it was first set in 2021."