"There are times when I've questioned whether I can carry on with the job because of how difficult the conditions have been.
"It's long hours, you don't see your family a lot of the time, you miss a lot of events. That's part of the job and we accept that, but what we can't accept is being unfairly paid, overworked and underappreciated."
These were the words of Dr Caitlin Lythgoe, 26, as she joined her colleagues on the picket line outside The Royal Liverpool Hospital on Monday (March 13) morning. Today marked the first strike day of three as thousands of junior doctors have walked out across the country in a row over pay and conditions, with union the British Medical Association (BMA) demanding a pay rise.
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The union says newly-qualified medics earn £14.09 an hour and junior doctors in England have faced a 26% real-terms pay cut since 2008/09. Reversing this would require a 35.3% pay rise, according to the union.
On Friday, Health Secretary Steve Barclay invited the BMA to talks but the union rejected it, saying there were “unacceptable” preconditions. The preconditions are understood to have included looking at a non-consolidated lump sum payment for last year.
However, the BMA is seeking what it calls “full pay restoration”. Ministers have said they will not meet those pay demands.
On the picket line, doctors told the ECHO they had been left with no choice but to make the difficult decision to strike.
Dr Lythgoe, from Waterloo, said: "Junior doctors are feeling undervalued, overworked and underpaid. I'm sure it's the same for a lot of the public sector, which is why we're all backing each other up here.
"Those doctors are saving your life and they're working for £14 per hour in most cases. We're here to demand better pay conditions - that's also important because doctors are leaving the job because of the stress."
She added: "We've just been through nearly three years of the pandemic, we've been stretched, we've seen things that I will never forget in my entire lifetime. All we're asking for is to be fairly remunerated."
Further seen down the road from the Royal, outside The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Dr Alex Batty stood alongside his colleagues on their picket line. Dr Batty, 31, joined the picket line as it formed, straight from finishing a 12 hour night shift.
Still wearing his scrubs under his coat, Dr Batty told the ECHO: "Morale is incredibly low, as people are coming out of medical school with five, often six years of paying £9,000 a year debt and we're not getting paid enough. The cost of living crisis is going on and we're working really long hours, being pulled in all different directions on any given shift.
"Morale has never been lower with junior doctors and the NHS."
On the picket lines, the strikers were buoyed by the support of passing drivers, many of whom beeped their horns in solidarity. A student also dropped off a box of Heroes and told the striking doctors they were fighting for the future of the NHS.
Dr Lythgoe said: "The support means the world. Being from Liverpool, I know how the people of Liverpool come together, especially when it comes to fair pay for workers.
"I think it's important more than ever that we support our NHS. The backbone of our NHS is our nurses and doctors, we're sticking together, we want fair pay and that it's more important than ever that we get that."
Dr Annie Bown, 29, also told the ECHO that working conditions have left her questioning whether she can remain in the job. Originally from North Yorkshire, Dr Bown graduated from the University of Liverpool in August.
She said: "I came to Liverpool, decided to stay in Liverpool and I don't want to leave Liverpool, but I feel at the point where I'm feeling pushed out of the NHS in the next few years, unless things change.
"This is my first year working as a doctor. I love Liverpool, love the people of Liverpool, they're so supportive and we really want to be able to provide the best care we can for them."
Dr Bown fears that will not be possible unless the striking doctors win this pay battle. She said scenes seen within hospitals of packed wards, patients waiting on corridors and in parked ambulances stem from working conditions which drive medical professionals out.
She said: "We feel very worried about the future, we don't know what the future holds for the NHS. A lot of people are very burnt out because we work 48 hour weeks as standard."
"They're exhausted and there's a lot of moral injury of seeing patients in trollies on corridors but not being able to really do anything to improve the situation. It is kind of out of our control, we can't stop the doctors from leaving. We really need the government to come to the table and make improvements for us."
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