Fellow resident doctors, we must now begin to take public support seriously

I actively stand with you, my colleagues, as we pursue full pay restoration and sustainable working conditions.

Consistent polling suggests, however, that public support for strike action has plummeted.

Vociferous public condemnation of resident doctors by the likes of Jeremy Vine and Andrew Neil is, unfortunately, predictable.

However, when Polly Toynbee describes resident doctors as having “overreached” and James O’Brien calls resident doctors “wrong to the point of offensive”, the extent of the public support problem facing our pay restoration campaign becomes impossible to ignore.

As doctors, we need to be very careful to understand and respect the importance of the relationship between the perception of our profession and public trust in it. Doctors practice their profession on a bedrock of public trust, and it is on this very trust that health outcomes intimately depend.

On our journey to restored pay and improved conditions, I am repeatedly told that public opinion is of no importance to effective trade unionism.

However, evidence suggests that increased public support emboldens and encourages union members to come together in action.

Public disapproval sows seeds of doubt in the minds of our sympathetic colleagues. Public support is also of great importance in our political negotiations.

We have seen this drop in our public support become a stick with which politicians are able to beat us. Neglecting public perception leaves resident doctors weak in negotiations with our pay-setters, who feel emboldened by the prevailing mood in the court of public opinion.

Finally, and importantly, doctors have a responsibility to communicate the unique value of our role to patients. Everyone working in and for the NHS has an indispensable role to play in delivering world-class healthcare for our patients.

However, training and employing a doctor is expensive. Into the future, we must convince the public that doctors are worth the price. If we do not win that public debate, we risk sustained excuses of economic pressures continuing to drive an erosion of our profession - and our doctors away.

My position is not to criticise industrial action. However, let me be clear: if we, as resident doctors, do not bring the public along with us as we move toward improved pay and conditions, we will become a less united profession, we will wield diminished political leverage in our negotiations, and we will continue to see doctors being undercut and driven away. Things do not, however, need to be this way.

As resident doctors prepare for their first industrial action without public backing, we prepare to enter uncharted waters. We all want restored pay and improved working conditions.

However, as we work toward achieving these goals, it is about time that we look to public perception as an opportunity, rather than simply a distraction.

Bolstering public support and standing up for improved pay and conditions is not a zero-sum game. For patients, remuneration, and a sustainable workforce in the long term, we can – and must – prioritise both.

________________

Dr Connor Cummings is a resident doctor working in England. The views he expresses are his own. For more, he can be found on X @ConnorCummingsU

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email opinion@lbc.co.uk