Junior doctors to take further strike action

JUNIOR doctors across the North are expected to take further strike action next week.

They staged the first of two 48-hour full walkouts last week after the breakdown of pay talks with the Department of Health.

Alex Todd, a 32-year-old junior doctor from Castlederg, said that they had no choice but to take further strike action.

She said, “This strike is going ahead because we simply aren’t being listened to.

“Despite this, I hope negotiations can begin, because whilst we don’t want to be going on strike, we have to in order to obtain fair pay.

“If we had any sort of credible offer in the first place following the strike action in March, we wouldn’t have to do this.”

Next week, the junior doctors are expected to take to the picket lines from 7am on Thursday, June 6 until 7am on Saturday, June 8.

Postponed

Last week, the Western Trust stated that up to 1,681 outpatient appointments and 221 inpatient/day case procedures had been postponed as a result of the strike action.

In a statement released last week, the Department of Health stated, “The Department stands ready to continue discussions with the Junior Doctors Committee and does not accept that talks have ‘collapsed’.

“There are important issues of substance to be progressed, including reform of the current junior doctor contract in NI.

“The Department has offered a process of independent arbitration, but this has not been taken up to date.”

Junior doctors across the North previously went on strike for the first time in March, with the British Medical Association stating that salaries in the North had fallen by over 30 per-cent in the past 15 years, offering a starting salary of roughly £26,000.