Junior doctors strike

I think it is totally disgusting that this government has permitted (even encouraged through their actions), this strike to have to go ahead. They do not care = they all have private medicine), they do not care for the thousands of people who will have operations and procedures cancelled, leaving them further time in pain, or care for those who are going to die due to this, or care for those doctors who have spent many years studying and more years really learning their craft, only to find themselves and their families so much financially worse off. They have been left with no choice but this industrial action. Disgusting that government have said they will not sit down to even discuss this.

Think the whole cabinet should be charged with Corporate Manslaughter.

My only bright spot in all of this is to hope that those Doctors families (many of whom normally have been tory voters) remember this betrayal in the future_

If gps are covering in A&E for £200 an hour, who is covering for the gps?

I agree with Franbern. I have had a procedure postponed, which is concerning; but I am not in immediate danger, unlike many others.

The doctors really have no choice, other than to continue to accept low salaries. The government relies on the fact that doctors do care about saving lives, whereas they really don't. The general public is just collateral damage in their war against the welfare state.

IMO it's time we had a constitution - a proper contract with the government, setting out the standards we can expect from them, and what they expect from us in return. As it is, vague 'priorities' with no benchmarks for evaluating success are pointless. There would need to be a discussion about how it would work, and what penalties there would be for failure (if any - maybe a simple 'score' every year would be enough), but there are times when I do feel that deliberately misleading the public should be punishable by law.

I really wish the strikes weren't happening, and I feel for those who will suffer as a result, but I don't know what else the doctors can do - they have been forced into this position by a stubborn and uncaring government which is intent on dismantling the NHS.

ronib

If gps are covering in A&E for £200 an hour, who is covering for the gps?

I suspect that a significant number of GPs are part time, so could be available on their 'off' days.

I support the strikes.

Nice little number for part time gps MaizieD?

ronib

Nice little number for part time gps MaizieD?

I am biting my tongue, ronib. What a nasty thing to say.

ronib

Nice little number for part time gps MaizieD?

Hardly that - GP's work ridiculous hours anyway. Maybe they are being public spirited?
Or is that beyond the comprehension of cynics?

I support the doctors. I think it's the government's fault for letting it go on for so long.

Yes it gives me fears for upcoming procedure too but long term we need to keep our doctors and not have them go abroad for better pay as soon as they can. They deserve a substantial rise - not what they've asked for, but substantial.

They are one of our most precious resources and should be treated with respect and frankly gratitude for the work they do.

The government are playing a dangerous game of hoping that public opinion will do there job ad by their inaction all they ae doing is making people suffer.

Three cheers Wyllow3 - well said.

I agree with Maizie, Wyllow, and anyone else who supports the strikes.

…..hope that these Doctor’s families (many of who have normally been tory voters) remember this betrayal in the future.

Just wondering how anyone knows what doctors, or their families, vote in the private ballot box.

The doctors who are striking are responsible for loss of life; I recently spent an unnecessary five hours in A and E with a fracture because a male junior doctor signed me off as needing no treatment, without seeing me. He had signed the wrong form. Sheer incompetence.
The people who are keeping the hospitals running are the extremely professional nurses, senior doctors and consultants; the junior doctors seem full of resentment at their job. Out of three I know well and watched train, one walked out three months after qualifying and never returned, because she couldn't have Christmas Day off; one thought £50,000 was a very poor starting salary and the third went travelling for a long time before working because 'I have worked hard enough.' The two who work now will only work part-time, which they can afford to.
And if the pharmacists and GPs are working in A &E is this not strike breaking? What happens to the customers of the pharmacies (no prescriptions available if the pharmacist is not there) and the patients of the GPs, who have to wait hours and days simply to make an appointment, let alone talk to anyone.
This is bullying and blackmail and I sincerely hope the government does not give in to it.

Sometimes when I read posts on here I just want to cry.

Pay them what they're worth for goodness sake.

I wonder how long the junior doctor who signed you off by mistake had been on duty. Tired doctors who work long shifts are likely to make mistakes. In any case, someone, maybe a nurse, put your notes into the wrong pile, the pile to be signed off as fit to leave. I don’t expect he/she remembered everyone’s name eazybee.

volver3

Sometimes when I read posts on here I just want to cry.

Pay them what they're worth for goodness sake.

Hear, hear.

eazybee I am sorry you had a poor experience and hope your fracture is on the mend.

When people are working under pressure for ridiculously long hours mistakes happen and poor decisions are made. The doctors recognise this and that is why they are striking - their working conditions are bad for them and put us all at risk.

Pay is an important secondary issue but has been talked up as if it is the main priority by the media.

ronib

Nice little number for part time gps MaizieD?

Disgusting thing to say. No doctor sees covering A&E as a cash cow.

Says a lot about the poster, and their attitude towards life.

I think a shift in A+E is anything but nice. Especially if it’s a Saturday night.

I agree with you Gaga.

I was also not helped by a doctor in A&E a few months ago eazybee. But she was the exception, not the rule.

The government undervalues junior doctors. No wonder they leave to go to work elsewhere, where they can earn more and have a better work life balance.

The government does not have a mandate to destroy the NHS. Pay them what they're due.

maddyone

^…..hope that these Doctor’s families (many of who have normally been tory voters)^ remember this betrayal in the future.

Just wondering how anyone knows what doctors, or their families, vote in the private ballot box.

I can help out a little bit on this. My BiL and sister are recently retired consultants. BiL came from a family of generations of doctors, traditional, and was brought up in a Tory voting house and used to vote Tory.

This changed slowly as privatisation crept up on us, for the first privatisations creamed off the "Sexy" and financially rewarding bits of the NHS but never the chronic field he worked in. He was totally dedicated and arrived at 6 in the morning and rarely left before 6 in the evening.

As time has gone on and the NHS starved of resources, he could see first hand what was happening and has changed his politics substantially, voting Lib Dem or Labour depending on the constituency.

My sister was always more middle ground. She trained in the 1970's and was the only med student in her group who hadn't gone to a public school.

The students were conservative by nature and the BMA was a pillar of the establishment. We tend to forget this.

The BMA leaders have not changed by some sudden political swing.

It's been their experiences - just like my BiL - from Junior doc up to the most senior consultants - that has made the BMA "political". It is quite a remarkable change and one we need to be aware of: its been the way they have been treated.

Thank you Wyllow. My daughter is a doctor and were she in the country, I know she would vote Labour. She tells me that many of her colleagues would do the same. However she’s in New Zealand, thousands of miles away from us, partly, but not wholly, because she was disillusioned with the NHS.

My young medic dd would have loved to have started her career on a 50K salary.

My dd is an A&E doctor and has worked the Easter weekend. Over the entire weekend the dept has experienced levels of attendance of just one fifth of their normal rate. It seems that chocolate must make everything better.

The whole thing is a mess. As my memory serves me once the Tories came into power things went on the decline. Within months A&Es closed down and protests were made. Everything was based on centralisation and when A&Es were overwhelmed it was the fault of those turning up. Waits for operations were extended dramatically from the much shorter times that had been offered by the Labour government. Now things have worsened and Covid exposed the weaknesses in the whole situation. Do I want an exhausted doctor to attend to me? Of course not. I would have thought that after all these years their conditions relating to hours worked might have improved and now they are demanding an improvement in pay. Not surprising but like other sector workers conditions are often at the root of the problem. The economy is wobbling and so is everything based on it. I need the NHS and so do the majority of people. The health of the nation is the major priority but it’s workers are treated with disdain.