‘The NHS is already on its knees’: Readers clash as six-day doctors’ strike begins

Iindependent Premium Subscribers are bitterly divided today, with the departure of junior doctors with strong views on both sides of the dispute that has sparked a debate over pay, pressure and the future of the NHS.

The debate was sparked by a first-person speech from junior doctor Holly Tarn. IndependentIt details low pay, mounting debts and relentless ward pressures. His piece came as health secretary Wes Streeting stepped up warnings that the six-day strike could cause weeks of disruption and leave hospitals struggling to cope.

Many readers staunchly opposed the strikes, arguing that doctors were already receiving significant pay increases and that they should weigh their demands against the difficult economic conditions in which everyone was suffering.

Some warned that the strike could harm patients and put more pressure on colleagues.

However, a significant portion of subscribers sided with doctors, pointing out years of real wage erosion, high education costs and deteriorating conditions. Some have warned that the NHS risks losing talent abroad; Some shared personal stories of doctors leaving abroad for better pay and stability.

Here’s what you need to say:

Most of us are having a hard time

Teachers also experience the same problem; Their salaries have not been increased since 2008. They are not on strike. Many of us are still struggling because wages haven’t actually increased. I sympathize with the doctors, but I do not think strikes should continue in this period of global economic crisis. Working according to the rules, no overtime, etc. may evoke more sympathy from workers who have no option to strike and are struggling due to endless crises (Brexit, Covid, Ukraine, Middle East, etc.).

Red Dragon

Government should limit wage demands

Doctors sense the weakness of the institution that pays them (the government) and are prepared to exploit it. A new improved offer will emerge next week which may be enough to end the strike, but this will only upset every other group in the NHS. At some stage you have to say no and have to say no, even if you are to blame.

OldBad

Why does a person want to be a doctor?

It seems obvious that the public has little sympathy. As waitlists finally start to drop in the right direction, this group wants to blow it, even though they agreed to a huge increase 15 months ago.

The majority of people support Wes Streeting, who is a very honest and sincere health minister. Someone should tell them that the world is on the brink and this country’s finances are about to take a huge hit because of Trump, and this time they want to force a strike when they are offered a 3.7 percent wage increase as well as over 1,000 new training places. I will keep my insurance.

You know, if you’re an 18-year-old with top A-level grades in Biology and Chemistry, it would be wiser to apply for a job in pharmaceuticals. Your university fees and perhaps even research fees for your PhD will be paid. You will be guaranteed a well-paying job.

Deciding to go into medicine (a five-year course with a 50 per cent dropout rate after the first year and having to work on the wards for two years before eventually attending a training course) seems like madness, so why would anyone want to do it? Especially because they say the salary is not good. They made the choice.

Jasper

Pay them your debts

My son is an assistant doctor. Two years later, he goes to Australia because there is no job guarantee here. The street is the culprit. Pay them back and the problem will be solved.

FlashFloyd

NHS on its knees

In my opinion, assistant doctors should not strike; especially after accepting last year’s offer.

Their salaries increase rapidly after the first few years, but where is this clearly documented? We are shown the figures after taxes and deductions; No other profession offers salaries this way. Their low starting salaries reflect the fact that they are still in training, and we know that patient mortality rates increase in the first weeks of each physician assistant rotation.

Working as an Allied Health Specialist in the NHS myself, I see first-hand the additional burden junior doctors place on every department, but you’ll rarely hear us complain. The NHS is already on its knees and this cut will do no good. We all face difficult situations – and I’m delivering bad news – but higher pay won’t make these moments easier.

Retention is important, of course, but I’m sure it’s not the answer.

Emz

This strike is a choice

Just as you have the choice of whether to accept that last year’s 29 per cent pay rise, above that received by most other NHS staff, represents a reasonable solution, you also have the choice of whether to stand on the picket line. You also have the option of accepting that doctors continue to enjoy stronger pay and pension arrangements than many of their colleagues in the NHS.

At the same time, more and more of the work once done by junior doctors is now taken on by other professionals, particularly nurses and others working for significantly lower pay in equally high-pressure environments. In this context, it is difficult to justify further disruptions that would lead to thousands of patients having their surgeries and appointments canceled. This strike is a choice and it will be patients and NHS staff who will suffer the consequences.

Angela101

We’re all worse off

I wish my salary level was literally the same as it was in 2008. Economies are constantly shrinking and growing; This is not an upward curve that will last forever! The world is a volatile place right now, and we are all actually worse off. Why do junior doctors expect huge pay increases when almost everyone has to do our best?

BigHatAndFatPussy

Discrepancies in fees

How come MPs are getting a 5 per cent pay rise, which is 5 per cent of a larger starting figure and therefore brings them to a staggering basic salary of £98,599? On top of that, they subsidize restaurants and bars, the rest of us, including junior doctors, need to cover basic living expenses from our basic income, and then MPs can and do moonlight a multitude of other jobs to help our poor souls live.

Threatening to reduce the number of medical training places is so short-sighted that it is not credible. How exactly will the population have enough trained doctors in the future? It looks like this will be a version of AI reserved for those who can pay for you, me, and eligible doctors. I note that the latest Street wheeze is to restrict one in four GP referrals from being referred to a consultant to shorten waiting lists – again, what a boon for the private sector.

Bar7

Everything is so strange

It’s all very strange.

We have TV presenters who make more money than the journalists who report from war zones and the camera crews who follow them.

Doctors are forced to strike because they have to save lives, but we are not ready to pay them more to save lives.

Train drivers get paid much more than doctors because, and this makes me smile, they have to undergo extensive training, sometimes up to 18 months, they don’t have to work much overtime, and because of the responsibility they carry.

Some of you will talk about the private sector – my point is, it’s weird.

leaf spot

Student debt relief compromise

Easy solution if money is tight: junior doctors should accept the current salary offer and their student debt should be written off if they work for the NHS.

It is unrealistic to return to pre-financial crisis and pre-Covid wage levels without major increases in exports (unlikely after Brexit), but it is equally unrealistic to expect graduates to face lifelong financial penalties for the “crime” of having brains.

FreeLife

It has always been basic salary

In the 1980s young people could not earn the equivalent of today’s £85,000. This was a very basic salary similar to other graduate salaries. I know because I was one of those young people. Just like me, you knew what you wanted to do when you applied to medical school.

Beautiful

The offer is fair

BMA should not attack. In the current environment, the offer is a fair one. They should take into account the current financial climate.

The worst thing is to cause such costly disruption that even the current offer is no longer valid.

Tony1945

do math

£1,700 is not enough for a young doctor. Many bright young people will do the math and decide to qualify for something else or leave the country at the earliest. The government’s 10-year NHS plan is just a fancy wish list; He talks about more doctors but doesn’t have a strategy or a reasonable cost.

MP

Some of the comments in this article have been edited for brevity and clarity.

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