An NHS doctor working at a hospital in London says conditions are so bad that he is forced to sit on a bin to work - and that it's too busy to take a lunch break.
George Dovey, 28, picketed outside St Thomas' Hospital this morning as he joined around 50,000 junior doctors striking across England in a dispute over pay.
The medic said he is working harder than ever to make sure patients are not left in the corridors at the hospital.
He continued: "Our working conditions have got harder. I keep getting less resources.
"I often spend at least 10 minutes a day trying to find a computer that works. I have to do my work while sitting on a bin or desk."
Dr Dovey said it is also too busy to take a lunch break, adding: "I have to set an alarm every 90 minutes just to make sure I get some water. It can be really easy to forget because of how fast we are working.
"I am very much just above the breadline. I spent last night looking at jobs in Australia."
His comments came as other junior doctors said they are struggling to afford groceries and borrowing money to pay rent.
Trainee anaesthetist Ada Zembrzycka said her colleagues are using food banks as they struggle with the cost of living.
The 27-year-old, who works at Whipps Cross Hospital in east London, said: "If the pay cuts continue I will not only struggle to pay (for) my exams but for groceries and my Tube tickets.
"Rent is increasingly going up and I can't keep up."
Also picketing outside St Thomas' Hospital, she added: "I do have colleagues who have to borrow money from their families to pay rent this year."
Dr Hugh Adler, 35, a senior registrar in infectious diseases who was on the picket line outside the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, said: "The headline reason we're here today is pay erosion.
"People feel devalued, they're struggling to make ends meet. People are choosing to leave the NHS and we're seeing the gaps in the rota.
"We want to stop this exodus and haemorrhaging of staff, particularly junior staff who are paid £14 an hour after coming out of a six-year degree.
"They could go to Australia and work fewer hours for more money."
Katrina Forsyth joined a British Medical Association (BMA) picket line after finishing her night shift at St Thomas'.
The junior doctor, who works in general surgery, said she has to rely on family and her partner to be able to afford to keep working in London.
The 29-year-old said: "We were clapped during Covid. I qualified early to try and help.
"When it comes to the point when we are really struggling to pay rent, people don't care."
Dr Mivanyi Kadala, who has been a junior doctor for nine years, was among those on the picket line outside the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.
The registrar in infectious diseases said: "One of the key things for me about all of this is how much the NHS is losing staff.
"If you haven't got good staff retention you're going to continuously struggle to offer a good service and something that will be safe for patients."
Speaking on the same picket line, Dr Annie Bown, chairwoman of the BMA's Mersey regional junior doctors committee, said: "I'm a junior doctor in my first year of working and I earn £14 an hour.
"As a junior doctor in my first year of working, when a patient becomes unwell on the wards the nurses will call me, and if that patient's having difficulty breathing, or if their heart were to stop even, I would attend the ward, try to start their heart again and do all of that for £14 an hour.
"We're asking for full pay restoration back to the levels it was at previously in 2008/2009. The reason we're asking for this is because we're not doing 26.1% less work, we're not seeing 26.1% less patients - if anything the patients are more complex than ever."
A new campaign from the BMA says junior doctors starting work in hospitals earn £14.09 per hour in their basic pay packet - which does not include additional payments for weekend or overnight pay.
The union claims junior doctors in England have seen a 26% real-terms pay cut since 2008/09 because pay rises have been below inflation.
It is asking for a full pay restoration that the Government has said would amount to a 35% pay rise - which ministers have said is unaffordable.
