There was a rallying cry for change in the NHS as junior doctors hit picket lines across Greater Manchester for the second consecutive morning. Woolly hats and hot drinks were needed as members of the British Medical Association (BMA) took to picket lines on a bitter Wednesday morning (April 12) for day two of a four-day strike.
But spirits were high among colleagues who say their battle is about more than just pay. With thousands of doctor vacancies across the NHS, junior doctors insist the quality of care for patients is at stake.
"We don't have as many doctors as we should have," Dr Bradley Allmond, a junior doctor at North Manchester General Hospital, told the Manchester Evening News. "We're trying to get more staff in hospitals, more doctors, to be able to deliver the safe patient care that we all want to do - that's what we got into medicine for.
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"We want to deliver care to patients, and we're finding that increasingly harder and harder as the months, weeks, years go on. Every successive round of the 'worst winter we've ever had', it's getting harder."
The BMA wants to secure a 35% pay increase for junior doctors. The union says pay for junior doctors has fallen by 26.1% in real terms since 2008/09, while its members have also been affected by surging inflation over the past year.
The BMA says junior doctors are being paid as little as £14 an hour to carry out vital operations. As of December 2022, there were 8,728 medical vacancies in England's NHS hospitals.
Junior doctors are taking a stand at 12 Greater Manchester hospitals this week, sending a clear call to Government for improved pay and conditions. Dr Allmond said: "We're trying to stop doctors wanting to go into other careers, stop doctors wanting to go to other countries for better pay and conditions, for example Australia and New Zealand.
"We want to keep people here to be able to deliver the care that the NHS is supposed to stand for. It saddens all of us every day when we're trying to do that, and we just can't.
"There are too many barriers in the way, there are too many things, the waiting list is now at seven million people. That's not what we want, that's not what anybody wants."
Outside North Manchester General Hospital, morale was lifted with every beep of the horn from passing cars and buses. Junior doctors are grateful for the 'amazing' support they have had from many members of the public, but they know the industrial action brings disruption to many patients.
An estimated 350,000 appointments and operations could be cancelled due to the 96-hour walkout this week. Addressing patients facing disruption in Greater Manchester, Dr Allmond said: "I understand the situation you're in, I don't think it's fair that you're having to have procedures cancelled and moved, I'm sorry about that.
"But we're working towards the same goal. I wouldn't be surprised if you've had your procedure cancelled and moved multiple times already, not because of the strikes, but because of the way the NHS is at the moment."
Junior doctors hope that by improving pay and conditions, there will be fewer vacancies in the NHS, so waiting lists can be cut down quicker. In the department he works in, ambulatory care, Dr Allmond says waiting lists for patients to see specialists get longer 'every day'.
"Things that we would expect to happen in weeks are happening in months," he said. "This is not at all what we want, it makes the job quite tiring and quite draining."
Dr Allmond says strike action is 'the last option' to get Government back to negotiations for improved pay and conditions, having previously tried 'every avenue'. He added: "It certainly isn't easy, stepping away from what we want love doing and what we want to do, to go and stand out here in the cold and try and fight for what's right."
Rishi Sunak told reporters in Belfast today he wanted to find a 'reasonable compromise' with junior doctors. The Prime Minister said: "We are happy to talk about pay settlements that are reasonable, that are fair, that are affordable for the taxpayer and allow us to continue delivering on our promise to halve inflation."
He added: “What I’m focused on is making sure we get the right outcome for patients and taxpayers. I think the Government has got a track record in showing that it can get round the table and find reasonable compromise and a way through these difficult situations, as we’ve already done with several other health unions that represent over a million NHS workers including nurses and paramedics.”
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