Resident Doctor Strikes: "We're not striking for the money, we're striking for more jobs"
Essex NHS Trust put "careful plans" in place amid industrial action
Resident doctors across Essex continue their five-day strike action and we're speaking to one second year doctor who says her and her colleagues are "not doing it for the money".
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced a walk-out of resident doctors from 7am on 25 July until 7am on Wednesday 30 July.
The group representing Resident doctors are asking for better pay and working conditions, arguing that resident doctors have seen their pay fall by a much greater amount in real terms since 2008-09 than the rest of the population.
A BMA spokesperson said: “Doctors are not worth less than they were 17 years ago, when austerity policies began driving wages down. We're simply asking for that value to be restored".
However some doctors who have spoken to Greatest Hits Radio say they were "conflicted" and "torn" by the five-day strike action.
Jessie Oliver, resident doctor at St Thomas' Hospital London, says:
"A lot of my colleagues were conflicted when handing in the BMA ballot.
"They seem to be focussing wholly on pay, but what we're worried and upset about, is the lack of positions available to doctors.
"It's a wide misconception that doctors are always going to be employed.
"4000 training GPs are not going to have consultant jobs at the end of their training.
"More colleagues than not are going abroad to Australia or New Zealand because they can't find a job here.
"It means that we end up just doing locum jobs, which gets paid more, so costs the NHS more money.
"More money needs to be pumped into creating speciality training jobs.
The strikes action is only being taken by Resident doctors, who have anywhere up to eight years experience and make up around half of all doctors in the NHS.
Dr Mike, a trauma and orthopaedic resident doctor for the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust, says:
"The BMA and government's position is mainly focused on ongoing pay disputes, but this is about working conditions, this is about being undervalued and underfunded.
"Many doctor privileges have been taken away in the last few years:
"Free parking on site, we now have to pay everyday, just the same as patients.
"Rest accommodation after night duties has been taken away - a few doctors actually lost their lives whilst driving home from night shifts because there is nowhere to sleep in the hospital.
"Doctors have really just been pushed to the wall and they have lost trust in the Government.
"The strikes pull at my heartstrings because you don't want your patients to be at any kind of disadvantage but the government needs to know that you can't underfund the NHS anymore.
"You can't have a two-tiered system. The private healthcare system is becoming completely different to what we see in the NHS and that's why doctors are leaving."
Dr Mike has decided to strike but also remain on the hospital site in case of any emergencies.
"I'm torn by these strikes but how else will we be listened to? How many more doctors need to die on their way home from a night shift?"
Christine Blanshard, Chief Medical Officer at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“We face another disruptive period of industrial action, but we have put careful plans in place to protect our patient services and our main focus is on continuing to provide safe care.
"Please do still attend your appointments, unless you have been contacted by us.”
The NHS is asking patients to choose services appropriately during industrial action and take simple steps to help ensure care is available to patients who need it most.
This includes using 111 online as the first port of call for health needs, and as ever only using 999 if it is a serious or life-threatening emergency.
For more information on when to call 999 and when to go to A&E, you can visit the NHS website.