“Following the doctors and dentists review body award, pay erosion against RPI inflation for resident doctors (formerly known as junior doctors) will be at 21%. Or, put another way, resident doctors are still working a fifth of their time for free compared to real-terms pay in 2008-09.
“A pay uplift of 26% is needed to reverse it.
“After 26,766 resident doctors voted ‘Yes’ (90% of those voting) to industrial action on a turnout of 55%; the BMA (British Medical Association) has called a five-day walkout of resident doctors in England, beginning Friday 25 July.”
Liverpool resident doctor
Ali Mansfield writes:
The NHS as a whole is in deep crisis after 14 years of brutal Tory austerity. But Labour has no intention of taking the serious action needed to reverse this. A token funding increase of 3% announced in the summer spending review will barely keep pace with rising costs, and by no means make up for decades of underfunding.
Disgracefully, Wes Streeting has also expressed sympathy for the idea of reintroducing Private Finance Initiatives, opening the door for more private profiteers to leech money from the NHS.
Streeting has admitted that “the NHS is hanging by a thread” – but rather than address underfunding, excessive workloads or the strain put on the NHS by declining social care, he uses this as an excuse to attack resident doctors and their right to strike!
All doctors want to provide safe, high-quality care for their patients, but they need the right conditions to do so. More funding is desperately needed to protect services, and fair pay – on top of being well-deserved – is vital in protecting staffing numbers.
The fight for fair pay in the NHS should be linked with other struggles against Labour’s austerity agenda.
