"Enough is enough." That's the message from one Newcastle GP who's leading calls to ensure that junior doctors receive a pay package reflecting how rates have stagnated over the past decade.
Dr Lizzie Toberty is a GP in Jesmond. While a junior doctor she went out on strike in 2016, and said a repeat was a real possibility. This comes after the Government came in for heavy criticism for the pay awards announced for NHS workers in July. Junior doctors are actually excluded from that - as they are on three-year deal - but the British Medical Association (BMA) has called for health bosses to address a 22% decline in real-terms pay for junior doctors compared to 2008-2009.
A week ago, the cross-party Health and Social Care Committee said health and social care services in England face “the greatest workforce crisis in their history” and the Government had no credible strategy to make the situation better. In their report, research by the Nuffield Trust shows the NHS in England is short of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives.
