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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Martin Bagot

9 in 10 doctors expect NHS to get worse, poll shows on eve of 72-hour strike

Nine out of 10 doctors surveyed said they expect the NHS to get worse in the next 18 months.

The British Medical Association polled 2,000 doctors on the eve of their three day strike from 7am today following a decade of below inflation pay deals.

Staff shortages and overwork were blamed as 53% of medics polled said they were thinking of or making plans to leave the NHS.

Worryingly, 67% said they did not think the NHS in its current form would exist in 10 years’ time.

The Tories will not re-enter negotiations with junior doctors until they abandon their opening demand of a 35% “pay restoration” deal.

The Government offered a 5% pay rise for 2023/24 - which was refused - and then halted negotiations as the BMA would not call off future strikes.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has described the action as 'dissapointing' (AP)

Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, said: “Junior doctors are in despair at this Government’s refusal to listen.

“It should never have taken two whole rounds of strike action to even put a number on the table, and for that number to be a 5% pay offer – in a year of double-digit inflation, itself another pay cut – beggars belief.

“We have made clear that junior doctors are looking for the full restoration of our pay, which has seen a 26% cut.

“Junior doctors in England have seen their pay cut in real terms by more than a quarter over the last 15 years.

If you can't see the poll, click here

“Today, they are demonstrating what that means to the survival of the NHS… it cannot survive without its most precious resource, its workforce.”

Today, major rallies will be staged by junior doctors as part of the BMA action in Birmingham, Oxford, Manchester and London.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “It is extremely disappointing the BMA is going ahead with further strike action.

“This 72-hour walkout will put patient safety and our efforts to cut waiting lists at risk.

“During recent meetings with representatives of the BMA junior doctors committee, we made a fair and reasonable opening offer and were discussing both pay and non-pay issues until they chose to end the talks by announcing new strike dates.

The British Medical Association polled 2,000 doctors (AFP via Getty Images)

“If the BMA cancels these damaging and disruptive strikes and shows willingness to move significantly from their position, we can resume confidential talks and find a way forward, as we have done with other unions.

“People should attend appointments unless told otherwise by the NHS, continue to call 999 in a life-threatening emergency and use NHS 111 online services for non-urgent health needs.”

The Government has been locked in a series of disputes with unions over pay and working conditions in the NHS since last year, resulting in a wave of strike action across the health service.

Some 542,000 procedures and appointments have already been axed due to NHS strikes.

Almost 300,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England are currently being asked to renew their mandate for industrial action until the end of the year with the vote scheduled to close on June 23.

Rory Deighton, director at the NHS Confederation said: “A particular challenge this time will be securing the level of consultant cover for absent junior doctors due to ongoing local negotiations on the overtime payments. In reality this means that it is still uncertain exactly how many planned procedures and appointments will need to be scaled back and rescheduled.

"The national advice remains that patients should assume their care will continue unaffected unless told otherwise.

“With the BMA having announced its intention to reballot its members for a mandate for a further six months of strikes and with industrial action from consultants, radiographers and nurses a possibility, the short-term outlook feels gloomy.

“A resolution is desperately needed, and we urge the government to search for a resolution to this dispute.”

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