Doctor strike may last YEARS, admits boss of militant union behind wave of devastating NHS walk-outs

Young doctors could continue to strike for years, one of the militant union leaders behind the devastating mass strikes has warned.

Dr Emma Runswick, vice-president of the British Medical Association Council, said the row between doctors and civil servants could extend beyond the general election.

The 28-year-old, from Wirral, Merseyside, admitted this could make the strike “possibly” last for years.

Trainee doctors will picket from Saturday in their latest five-day strike, coordinated by the BMA, in a bid for a 35 per cent pay rise.

Dr Runswick, who was elected to her position in July 2022, told the BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast that strikes could continue after the next general election, which will take place in January 2025, even if they win. the labourers.

She said: ‘The dispute we have now is not going to end with a change of Government. “This will end advances in physician compensation.”

Asked if this meant strikes could continue for months or even years, he replied: “Possibly.” I hope is not like that. But I expected that in October 2022.”

Dr Runswick called for a “salary restoration” for junior doctors, for which the union has planned a 35 per cent pay rise. He said this would reverse a 26 per cent “pay cut” over 16 years, based on the idea that pay increases have not kept pace with inflation since 2008.

The union estimates it would cost £1.1bn to implement, while officials put the figure at more than £2bn. Dr Runswick says the sum is not “unreasonable”.

“Why have we in society decided that it is acceptable to impoverish the people who run one of the country’s most essential services?” she said.

The doctor said she would “like to see” the pay rise funded by higher taxes on the wealthy.

And he added: ‘We are living in a health system in which we cannot provide the care that patients deserve. Either we continue to allow that to happen around us and make the individual decision to leave medicine or the country like thousands of us are doing, or we make the decision to fight back.

‘During the strike we guarantee the safety of patients who need urgent intensive and emergency care. If we don’t do something, neither they nor the thousands of people who will need treatment in the future will have access to it.’

The latest round of strikes will last from 7 a.m. on February 24 until shortly before midnight on February 28.

In a joint statement announcing the action earlier this month, co-chairs of the BMA’s young doctors committee, Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said the action could have been avoided if the Government had agreed to sit down. the negotiating table.

Around 1.4 million appointments and operations have been canceled due to the endless wave of NHS strikes that began in 2022.

There have been 70 days of strike action, costing the NHS £3 billion and forcing patients to wait even longer for care at a time when waiting lists are at 7.62 million and hundreds of thousands They are forced to wait more than a year to receive care.

The junior doctors’ previous strike in January saw them picket for a record six days, leading to 113,779 appointment cancellations.

Emergency services remain open on strike days and officials have told Britons who need urgent medical attention to continue seeking help as normal.

Ministers have given junior doctors a pay rise of 8.8 per cent, on average, for the 2023/24 financial year.

However, the increase was largest for first-year doctors, who were given a 10.3 percent raise.

In December, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins offered them a further 3 per cent rise in a bid to prevent further strikes.

But the union said the enhanced sum was still “completely insufficient”.

Young doctors in their first year now have a basic salary of £32,300, while those with three years’ experience earn £43,900. The oldest earn £63,100.