Striking junior doctors in Greater Manchester have described how their dispute isn't just about pay - it's about saving the NHS as more and more colleagues leave to get better paid jobs abroad.
They spoke out as junior doctors began a third round of strike action, walking out at 7am at hospitals across Greater Manchester in a dispute over pay.
Unions are are calling for a 35 per cent increase for junior doctors to make up for 15 years of declining pay compared to inflation. But the Government insists the demand is 'unreasonable' and has criticised the unions over the latest walkout. Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: "This 72-hour walkout will put patient safety and our efforts to cut waiting lists at risk."
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But striking doctors who have walked out say they have to act now or the situation would worsen in the NHS as more and more stressed-out colleagues leave the country to work for more money abroad.
One junior doctor, on a picket line at Salford Royal Hospital this morning, told the M.E.N: "The system is already on its knees. If we didn't strike, things would get worse."
The 27-year-old senior house officer from Salford, who declined to be named, said: "We see every day colleagues who are leaving the profession. They are getting offers that are better paid in other countries. I know at least three different close friends who are going to New Zealand and Australia for at least a year from August. It's better paid, it's sunny and it's a much better work-life balance."
He said newly qualified doctors were earning £14-per hour and that he had left medical school with £70,000 of debt.
The medic added: "There's such a lot of pressure in the hospitals. It's much easier than in winter but we're still seeing pressure. I do enjoy my job. I make important decisions every day for patients and getting people better. It's the reason we all do this job. We want to help people. But is it worth it compared to the money I could get in another country?"
He said junior doctors could get locum work that paid £45-per-hour but they would lose out in training and career progression, and that this would cost the NHS in the long term.
He added: "Working in the NHS is less and less tolerable. It's less and less attractive to people. Stress in work is so significant. You get burn-out. For your health, it's often better to go part-time or quit the country."
Another junior doctor, a mother in her 30s from Manchester who also declined to be named, told the M.E.N: "I've worked in the NHS for more than ten years and I've seen it going from having enough beds to just managing. We don't have any bed capacity anymore. It's such a struggle if a patient needs an operation and they are staying in and another patient has to be cancelled. There aren't enough resources. It's really stressful these days.
"I've seen a massive decline in the NHS."
The striking medics at Salford Royal stressed they were ready to return to work in case of a significant emergency incident.
HCSA president Dr Naru Narayanan said: "Junior doctors have just had enough, really, of being taken for granted... if they were given a sensible pay rise each year we would never be in this position."
The strike is the third this year by junior doctors in England and is expected to cause mass disruption.
There have also been concerns about staffing, with some consultants saying they would not provide strike cover unless their employers agreed to a higher overtime rate.
The British Medical Association (BMA) is calling for 'full restoration' of pay, which it says has seen a 26 per cent cut. The Government has offered five per cent to end the dispute.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairmen of the BMA junior doctors committee, said in a statement: "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.
"Today they are demonstrating what that means to the survival of the NHS."
A BMA poll of 1,935 junior doctors in England, published on Wednesday, found 53% are making plans to leave the NHS or are thinking about leaving as a result of the Government’s response to industrial action.
Some 67% do not think the NHS in its current form will exist in 10 years and 88% expect the NHS to get worse over the next 18 months.
BMA chairman of council Professor Philip Banfield has written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging him to intervene to resolve the dispute.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said it is “extremely disappointing” that the BMA is going ahead with further strike action.
He said: "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.
"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."
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