Thanet campaigners turned out to support striking staff at QEQM Hospital on Tuesday (29th July).
Across the UK resident doctors have been on strike, calling for better pay and working conditions. The staff, formerly known as junior doctors, were last on strike two years ago.
The name was changed to reflect that many have up to 20 years experience and are central to the running of the NHS.
Rachel Hallam (pictured above), resident doctor at QEQM, said: “Resident doctors have faced a pandemic, a crisis in corridor care and we provide for our patients in a system riddled with pressures exerted on us by non-clinical managers.”
The doctors’ union, the BMA (British Medical Association) is asking for pay to be ‘restored’ to the level it was in 2008. Taking inflation into account Rachel says that wages are down 25% on 20 years ago.
She added: “It’s demoralising that many doctors are paid the same as the physician assistants whose work they have to oversee.
“Its not surprising that the NHS is haemorrhaging staff to work overseas or in other careers. When we are told that we are greedy I would point to the private companies now involved in NHS care and the profits they make that are eating into NHS funding.
“The government could scrap or renegotiate PFI contracts and save billions.
“We care about our patients but we know our worth and we hope that other colleagues in healthcare will follow our example.”
Retired nurse Candy Gregory, from local campaign group SONIK (Save Our NHS in Kent), said: “It’s not surprising that doctors leave when they’re being offered three times their salary and better working conditions in other jobs.
“We are happy to join the picket lines to support our hospital doctors, and join the many other organisations like the Green Party, the RMT and North East Kent Trade Union Council to try to show the government how vital our doctors are. We are doing it for us as much as for them.”
Continuous industrial action – day and night – started at 7am on Friday 25 July and finished at 6.59am today (July 30).
Disgraceful!
Disgraceful behaviour from doctors who already got massive pay rises. Walking out on patients again while crying for more is pure greed. This isn’t about care, it’s about cash. Lives are at risk so they can throw a tantrum. Absolutely shameful.
While the NHS is on its knees, these so called professionals are busy playing politics. Real heroes don’t abandon their posts. If they can’t handle the pressure without demanding more every few months, maybe they’re in the wrong job.
The public is losing patience fast, and rightly so. Most people work harder for far less and don’t get to walk off the job when they feel like it. These strikes aren’t brave, they’re selfish, and the damage they’re doing to trust in the NHS will take years to repair.
Before you reply Martha, take 5 minutes to calm down and read the article first, please.
Greedy
Typical trade unions who will always try to hold the country to ransom, especially with a Labour government. No negotiation, just strike, even though a pay rise was agreed not too long ago. I was a registered nurse in the past, an occupation of which I was justly proud. I would be ashamed today!
Pure greed!
The Resident Doctors have now lost my support along with everybody I have talked to about the subject.
We would all like to have the equivalent earnings we had in 2008 but until this useless Liebour government does something serious and intelligent about our economy it ain’t gonna happen, Jose.
Being greedy, get back to your patients before even more die.
If hospitals weren’t paying millions every year to bankers who own the PFI contracts, there would be money to pay staff properly. Do you really want to be cared for when you are dangerously ill by exhausted doctors, working 12 hour shifts for £14 an hour?
Janet, this isn’t about PFI contracts. Doctors aren’t earning minimum wage, they earn more and they’re not being forced into this job.
Plenty of people work long hours for a lot less without abandoning the people who rely on them. If someone can’t handle the hours or the pressure, they shouldn’t be in a job where lives depend on them.
Striking while patients suffer isn’t heroic, it’s selfish. Stop making excuses for it.
Janet – nothing to do with PFI contracts. Do try to keep up and on subject!
Crippling PFI payments will all be part of the financial equation, as well you know FedupB.
Ton, nice try, but dragging PFI into this is just a lazy deflection.
The issue here is doctors striking now, after already getting big raises, not contracts signed decades ago. Blaming old finance deals doesn’t excuse walking out on patients. Stay focused.
Nope. PFI and Privatisation have everything to do with this. It’s about using fake doctors to get more profits from being sick. It’s about reducing the number of training spaces. It’s cutting doctors out of the equation. There’s a very large number of unemployed doctors, though the demand is high. It is about reclaiming our NHS.
Ton – nothing to do with present Doctor situation , as you well know!
I agree that Resident Doctors have lost all my support for this strike decision. Nurses as well if they try to hold our bankrupt country to ransom. I want to see a doctor who loves what they do not for what they can gain by strikes.
My experience of local NHS doctors is not very good. I simply don’t trust them to get my problems right. most of my care has been done in London as locals have no experience of complex things. Leave the NHS if you don’t like the latest offer and let us get on with those that really care for us.
Resident doctors are the backbone of our healthcare system, often working grueling hours under immense pressure. Their decision to strike is not taken lightly, but arises from critical concerns about unsustainable working conditions, inadequate pay, and the detrimental impact these factors have on both their well-being and patient care. Supporting their strike is an investment in the future of medicine, advocating for fair treatment that ensures doctors can provide the high-quality, compassionate care we all deserve, without sacrificing their own health and livelihoods in the process.
Stephanie, spare us the lecture.
Everyone’s got a tough job these days, but most don’t abandon their responsibilities and leave lives hanging in the balance to make a point. Resident doctors aren’t martyrs they’re well paid professionals who knew exactly what they signed up for.
If the pressure is too much, maybe it’s time to rethink the career, not punish patients. Calling this an “investment in the future” is laughable, there’s nothing noble about walking out when people need you most.
Stephanie, that’s an impressive pile of conspiracy nonsense.
“Fake doctors” “cutting doctors out” “reclaiming the NHS”, you sound like you’ve been up all night watching YouTube documentaries instead of reading anything remotely factual.
There aren’t armies of unemployed doctors being locked out, and no one’s striking to “reclaim” anything. They’re striking for more money, plain and simple. Do yourself a favour and go to bed.
Doctors invest many years in training and in developing a huge range of skills and expertise, then they work under tremendous pressure, often making life-or-death decisions. My life has been saved by doctors more than once. I think they should be rewarded fairly for their skills and commitment and if that means taxing people who have done much less to acquire much more money, so be it!
Touching story, but this isn’t about doctors being skilled, it’s about them holding the country to ransom again after already getting hefty pay rises.
We all know they trained hard. So do pilots, engineers, and soldiers. none of them get to abandon duty whenever they feel underappreciated. “Rewarding fairly” doesn’t mean endlessly caving to entitled demands while patients suffer.
And as for taxing others to fund this tantrum? Maybe focus on saving lives, not bankrolling strikes.
Spare us your patronising lectures the box .
£15 an hour isn’t much.
More than most authors get. And they’re more important.
They were given a significant increase last time, shame on them.