Junior doctors strike in England continues following rejection of pay offer by BMA
By John Brace (Editor)
First publication date: Monday 14th August 2023, 07:56 (BST).
Junior doctors have been on strike (a picket line outside Arrowe Park Hospital, Wirral, England, UK is pictured above) at Arrowe Park Hospital (which is run by Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) in a fifth round of industrial action that started on Friday 11th August at 7am (BST) and continues to Tuesday 15th August at 7am (BST).
The author of this piece declares the following three interests, membership of the NUJ (National Union of Journalists), being in a relationship with a health visitor employed by a NHS Trust (for clarity not the Trust mentioned in this piece) and being a current candidate in a governor election for Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Trust (Bidston and Claughton area).
The dispute follows a successful re-ballot by the British Medical Association in a dispute mainly over pay and the strike action involves clinical fellows, foundation trainees (FY1, FY2 and FY3), GP trainees, locum juniors, senior clinical fellows, speciality trainees (CT1-2, ST1-2, ST1-2/CT1-2, ST3-5 and ST6-9), Trust Grade Juniors, academic trainees (NHS employed) and trainees in public health with an honorary contract.
A recent legal case (involving the use of agency staff during strikes) in the High Court brought by many different unions (ASLEF, BFAWU, FDA, GMB, NEU, NUJ, POA, PCS, RMT, Unite and Usdaw) which resulted in a decision last month decided in favour of the unions following a flawed consultation and a ruling that the then Conservative Secretary of State’s approach (Kwasi Kwarteng who was Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) had been “irrational”. The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (which came into force on 21st July 2022) were quashed recently by the High Court.
The junior doctors dispute is mainly centred on pay awards following periods of high inflation in the United Kingdom, however with roughly 9,000 vacancies in medical posts in secondary care in England, the high vacancy rate also impacts working conditions in the NHS too.
As a general election is expected in the next 12 months (when it will be put to a vote as to whether the current Conservative government should continue), healthcare continues to be a topic that resonates strongly with the public and has been campaigned on locally (such as the group Defend our NHS following 13 years of healthcare changes (with Wirral Council having a role in healthcare scrutiny but with very little powers to bring about change).
The Conservative government’s response to the pandemic, is currently the subject of a long overdue public inquiry, with modules on resilence and preparedness, Core UK decision making and political governance, impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare and vaccines and therapeutics having already begun.
The junior doctors strike is one of many different strikes that have happened (or are planned to happen) in sectors ranging from firefighters, rail workers, postal workers, nurses, teachers to name but five. Despite current broad public support for the striking workers, unresolved industrial unrest on this scale and another of the Conservative Party’s election manifesto pledges ruled unlawful by the High Court, is leading (and will lead) to problems in UK society which is still reeling from the results of leaving the European Union and the pandemic.
At its last CQC inspection published in 2022, Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was found to require improvement in the areas of safe care, effective care, responsive care, well-led care and use of resources.
The reasons for the current strike action and the junior doctors campaign can be found on the British Medical Association’s website.
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