Thousands of junior doctors took to picket lines around the North East for the first day of a 72-hour-long strike - and they warned that without Government action to reverse years of declining pay, medics will leave the NHS and patient safety will be compromised.
The striking NHS doctors - members of the British Medical Association - asked "why are we worth 26% less than our colleagues were in 2008?" as they took to pickets outside of major hospitals including the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Freeman Hospital and Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital. The medics told ChronicleLive how medicine was no longer the desirable career it once was.
More than 37,000 doctors returned ballot papers earlier this year, with 98% in favour of strike action. The BMA says pay has fallen in real terms 26% since 2008 - and the union wants a pay rise this year that remedies this.
