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  • 5 months ago
A five-day walkout by resident doctors in England began this morning after talks with the UK Government broke down on Tuesday. Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) are on picket lines across the country demanding a 26% pay rise and better working conditions. Health Secretary Wes Streeting says he and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are “angry on behalf of patients and other NHS staff.” Report by Jonesia. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

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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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