00:00A five-day walkout by resident doctors in England began this morning,
00:05after talks with the UK government broke down on Tuesday.
00:09Members of the British Medical Association are on picket lines across the country,
00:14including this one outside St Thomas' Hospital in Westminster,
00:18demanding better pay and working conditions.
00:21I do feel like we're justified in striking at the moment.
00:23I think, you know, we're not worth less than we were in 2008.
00:25We have this crazy situation now where a doctor's assistant in London
00:30is earning 47% more than a fully qualified doctor.
00:34That is ludicrous. That doesn't make any sense.
00:37All we're asking for is the doctor to be paid just over £22 an hour,
00:41£22 an hour to provide life-saving treatment.
00:44Claire Ashton has a rare condition that affects the nerves in her spine.
00:49Her treatment was delayed by last year's strikes
00:51and has now been put back again because of this walkout.
00:54I do get him out because I've just had enough, if I'm honest now,
00:58and I get it all with the NHS.
01:01We're in a mess, aren't we? The system's broken.
01:03But that doesn't help people like me,
01:06and there's so many people out there that are waiting for operations and stuff.
01:10Last year, resident doctors accepted a government pay deal
01:14worth 22% on average over two years.
01:17This year, they were awarded an average pay rise of 5.4%,
01:21the highest in the public sector.
01:23But the BMA say they deserve a further 26% uplift,
01:28which they claim is needed after years of pay erosion.
01:31Doctors are voting with their feet, so they're going overseas.
01:33We get advertisements all the time from Australia that say,
01:36come work for us, we'll pay you more.
01:38The hours are shorter, the weather could be slightly better.
01:40And people are leaving, and why are they leaving?
01:44It's because of the pay and the conditions.
01:46NHS England says that, unlike with previous strikes,
01:50it is pushing to keep as much pre-planned care going as possible,
01:54rather than just focusing on emergency care.
01:56In the end, capacity will have to be constrained
01:59by the numbers of people we've actually got
02:01who do turn up for work,
02:03and what that means in terms of safe provision,
02:06because the thing that colleagues won't compromise
02:08is safety in the actual delivery.
02:11The health secretary insists pay is not open to negotiation.
02:15These are not grounds for strike action.
02:18Patients are experiencing disruption.
02:21We are going to do everything we can
02:22to minimise the impact over the next few days,
02:25but we know there will be disruption,
02:27there will be an impact on patients and other staff.
02:30I think that's extremely unfair.
02:33The NHS says GP surgeries will remain open as usual,
02:36and urgent care and A&E will continue to be available,
02:40alongside NHS 111.
02:42Having quelled the BMA's pay dispute
02:44shortly after entering government last year,
02:47these strikes are an unwelcome
02:48and potentially damaging development for Labour
02:51as they seek to meet their NHS pledges.
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