A leading North East junior doctor believes the public back strike action and know "it's not only for junior doctors, it's for patients".
Milo Kostusiak, an orthopaedic registrar working in North Tyneside and from Durham, is chair of the British Medical Association's North East regional junior doctors committee. He told ChronicleLive the continued action was vital to protect the NHS, stop a staff exodus and ensure huge waiting lists are reduced.
Speaking from the picket line at North Tyneside General Hospital on the second day of this month's two-day strike, he said: "Morale here among junior doctors is still high - we still believe in the core issue of this dispute: the demand for full pay restoration. We don't want to be here, we would much rather be back at work but the Government is not listening to us."
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Milo added that he felt there had been a great deal of public support - and that there was a feeling that passers-by "trusted junior doctors" and recognised the scale of the NHS crisis. He added: "I think the public realise the NHS is in peril and I think the public trusts us. What we are doing is not only for doctors, it's for patients - we know that if we can't fix the staffing crisis the NHS will suffer.
"Clearly we have a staffing crisis in the NHS - we have doctors leaving the profession and doctors leaving the NHS to go abroad. This is because of the underfunding of the NHS and we are facing huge waiting lists.
"There is the need to address pay erosion. And this is something the Government can achieve."
The industrial action comes as part of the now long-running dispute between the BMA and the Government, with junior doctors slamming the Government's offer of a 5% pay increase, in the face of their demands for "full pay restoration" - that pay rises 26% in line with the union's calculations showing the real-terms fall since 2008.
Earlier this week on the first day of strike action, a recruitment advert from the South Australia state government down under was pictured directly targeting striking junior doctors. Milo said this sort of advertising was working as junior doctors in the NHS were ditching the UK to work around the world for improve pay packets and a better lifestyle.
He added: "This advertising is happening more and more - and it's working. I met someone on the picket line yesterday who has already got her Australian visa and is going to be going to Australia in August.
They're working, doctors are leaving There are whole A&E departments in Australia currently being run by British-trained doctors. We have to both retain doctors and attract them to come back from Australia."
Earlier this week, 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."
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