The picket line at the Whittington

JUNIOR doctors say patient safety is at the heart of their strike.

The Whittington Hospital saw junior doctors striking for four days this week as part of country-wide industrial action. The British Medical Association is asking for a 35 per cent pay increase for what they say is a 26.1 per cent loss in earnings since 2008.

Health secretary Steve Barclay has said: “We want to reach a fair and reasonable settlement with junior doctors…but, clearly, a demand for 35 per cent, over £20,000 for some junior doctors, is not fair or reasonable.”

Junior doctors say that patient health and safety is what’s at stake when it comes to these pay rises.

“A patient deserves to be treated by a doctor who has enough sleep and feels valued for their work, and who has time to actually see and care for every patient. A doctor’s mental health goes hand in hand with patient safety and care,” said Fredrika Asenius, who has been a junior doctor for four years and worked at the Whittington since August.”

Fredrika Asen

She said she sees underfunding in the NHS and poor pay for junior doctors “every time I meet a patient who has been waiting too long in A&E; who has been waiting for too many months, or even years, for a surgery they need; who has been waiting too long for cancer treatment; who has been waiting too long to receive help for a mental health condition – I see it in every single meeting with every single patient. It affects us in every way: in morale, retention, and mental health.

“We’ve seen an ever-increasing number of doctors who leave, usually after their first two years of training, either go to another country or actually get out of the profession as a whole.

“This has led to progressively worsening conditions for those who stay, as well as safety issues for patients, increasing waiting lists, and increasing difficulties getting hold of a doctor when you need to.

Jonathan Chadwick

“Many of us just don’t feel that that’s an appropriate way to deliver care and it’s not the way that we want to continue working.

“What’s brought me here today is the hope to be able to improve the healthcare service that I genuinely believe in, and of course, to create a better future for patients,” said Ms Asenius.

The picket line also attracted solidarity from the hospital’s patients – Archway residents who rely on the service.

“It’s not just their pay that we’re concerned about, and that’s why we’re here to support them as members of the public from the locality that use this hospital. This is where I have blood taken, this is where, you know, things are done to me – that’s the local resource. That’s the reason why I’m in support,” said Jonathan Chadwick, who lives in Archway.

“I believe that the government is trying to privatise the health service. Their treatment of the junior doctors, they’re not junior doctors really, they’re grown-up doctors, is disgusting.

“It’s a derogation of their responsibility to the public as a government not to fund the National Health Service properly,” he added.

Rishi Sunak, speaking to reporters in Belfast, said: “We are happy to talk about pay settlements that are reasonable, that are fair, that are affordable for the taxpayer and allow us to continue delivering on our promise to halve inflation. Ultimately, that’s what we all need to do to ease the burdens on the cost of living, that’s what the government is committed to delivering.”

MICHAEL Rosen, above, was at the Whittington picket line on Wednesday, exactly three years to the day that the NHS hospital saved his life, writes Tom Foot.

The children’s author was supporting the striking junior doctors at the hospital in Archway where he spent 47 days in intensive care with Covid.

More than half of all the full-time doctors in the hospital – 259 – are junior doctors, new figures show.

The British Medical Association called the four-day walkout, saying doctors are not paid enough to make ends meet – and have effectively suffered a 26 per cent cut in pay since 2008.

A junior doctor is a medic who has been training for many years but does not yet hold a specialist position. The starting pay is around £29k.