Striking junior doctors ‘aren’t being listened to’

JUNIOR Doctors in the North have announced that they will stage further strike action over the next two months after the breakdown of pay talks with the Department of Health.

Two 48-hour full walk outs are expected to take place from 7am on Wednesday, May 22 until 7am Friday, May 24, and from 7am on Thursday, June 6 until 7am on Saturday, June 8.

A Western Health Trust spokesperson said it was too early to provide any detail on what impact, if any, the planned strike action would have on local hospitals.

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.

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

She said, “There has been no negotiating done since last time.

“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.”

‘NO PROGRESS’

Speaking about the decision, Northern Ireland Junior Doctor Committee (NIJDC) chair, Dr Fiona Griffin said, “After our 24-hour walk out on March 6, we were invited by the Health Minister to meet with his officials about our pay asks.

“We agreed to this in good faith and were hopeful for productive and meaningful discussions.

“Despite some progress on non-pay issues, regrettably there has been no progress at all on our key asks around pay, including a commitment to work towards full pay restoration. This has left us with no choice but to escalate our strike action. We are very disappointed that we have not been able to make any progress, but we must act on behalf of our members who voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking strike action for full pay restoration.”

Dr Griffin also highlighted the fact that doctors can see their colleagues elsewhere in the UK and in other jurisdictions getting better pay and conditions for less pressurised workloads.

She concluded, “This, along with years of below inflation or non-existent pay uplifts, the latest of which for the 2023/24 financial year has still yet to be paid, further adds to the reality that the key role junior doctors have in the health service is simply not valued.”