BMA union members picket in central London (Photo: Guy Smallman)
Resident doctors could be banned from striking if health bosses and right wingers get their way.
Frustration with the long running medics’ strike is running high at the Financial Times newspaper—and with the Labour government.
“Senior health officials have discussed banning UK doctors from going on strike, in a sign of growing desperation inside the government,” said the bosses’ house journal.
“Health secretary Wes Streeting has not ruled out the idea as pessimism mounts about the prospect of a deal with doctors in training,” it continued.
Any move towards banning doctors’ strikes would undoubtedly threaten the whole NHS workforce—and it should be met by every health union calling a strike of its own.
Streeting is furious with the doctors’ BMA union because it has refused to accept the low pay that many other unions have put up with. It turned down a derisory below-inflation 3.5 percent pay offer and rejected the government’s position on training and jobs.
Some 50,000 doctors are this year competing for just 13,000 training places that will allow them to specialise in the future.
For the lucky ones, winning a place often means uprooting themselves and their families to move to wherever they have been selected.
The unlucky ones face being thrown on the scrapheap after years of training and sinking in more than £100,000 worth of debt.
No wonder the British Medical Journal last year reported that a third of doctors said they were likely to leave the profession.
That’s a terrible prospect for them and for the millions of people languishing on hospital waiting lists.
Resident doctor Emma joined the picket line at the Manchester Royal Infirmary during last week’s strike.
“Wes Streeting can settle this dispute any time he wants with a credible offer. Get us back to pay restoration, reverse these pay cuts and make sure we have the jobs that give us the doctors we need for the future,” she told Socialist Worker.
Her point was echoed on the picket lines in London.
Josh said, “I used to be a doctor. I trained in Sheffield and graduated in 2023. I worked in the NHS in the north west.
“After two years NHS doctors are asked to pick a speciality. I applied for everything, but I didn’t get a single interview.
“Then often people go to hospitals to see if there is an ad hoc post. I went to 60 of them but for every post they had 100 applicants.
“I had to leave the NHS and go into the private sector. If there was a job for me, I would love to go back. But I need to pay the rent, and I have £80,000 worth of student loans to consider.
“My pay has not even put a dent in the loan. I think the strikes are in the right direction,” he said.
He is not alone. Matt Percy, a qualified medic with a PhD in microbiology, said his “life is on hold” after being unable to find a permanent job.
While Streeting and his boss buddies fantasise about banning strikes, it’s up to everyone who defends the NHS to stand up for the doctors.
They are fighting for everyone.
19 homes have been destroyed and at least 19 more damaged
Another Blairite gimmick
Human rights groups say the sentences are 'torture'
