‘Patients safe during strike’ say junior doctors

The medics are disputing the government’s plans to introduce a new contract which could see their basic pay increased by 11 per cent but could stop them gettting paid for unsociable hours.

Passing drivers also showed their loud support, with many honking horns and waving out of their vehicle windows as they drove past the picket line.

“The contract at the moment that the government is going to enforce on us is neither of those things and removes very important safeguards for patients”. The strike is the first doctors’ strike in four decades and an estimated 40,000 took part in the 24-hour walkout.

He said: “We must remember that junior doctors are not asking for more pay”.

One junior doctor has told Pirate FM it would mean she would effectively be paying to go to work, once she has factored in child care.

Foundation doctor in endocrinology at Whipps Cross Dr Sarah Keegan said: “None of us want to strike, but we know that a contract with unsafe hours will harm our future patients”.

Bosses at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust assured the public that it would be “mostly business as usual” but admitted that a small number of elective operations and clinics have had to be cancelled.

“They suspect ministers also want to axe the unsocial hours payments that they get for working nights and weekends”.

Speaking on the picket line, Priyanka Palimar, a junior doctor and one of the BMA’s representatives in the county, said there had been a lot of support for the strike from members of the public.

During the industrial action junior doctors are only offering emergency care resulting in hundreds of appointments and operations being cancelled or postponed.

There are some 90-100 junior doctors based at NDDH.

Anne Rainsberry, national incident director for NHS England, said: “It’s a tough day, but the NHS is pulling out all the stops, with senior doctors and nurses often stepping in to provide cover”.

If no progress has been made with negotiations after today’s strike, the BMA is planning on carrying out further action with a 48-hour, emergency-care-only strike on January 26, followed by a full withdrawal of labour planned for February 10.

Now the doctors have been urged to return to the negotiating table by the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt who described their strike as “completely unnecessary”.

“As ever, the safety and care of patients is our top priority, and the NHS has robust plans in place to ensure those who need emergency treatment will continue to receive it”.