Fears over latest junior doctors strike amid 30C heatwave and warning of risk of 'increased mortality'
27 June 2024, 08:01 | Updated: 27 June 2024, 10:21
Fears have been raised about the impact of the latest junior doctors strike, which comes amid a heatwave that has seen temperatures rise to over 30C in parts of the country.
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The latest five-day walkout that began on Thursday marks the 11th strike by junior doctors in England since their dispute began some 20 months ago.
The junior doctors have said their pay has been cut by more than a quarter over the last 15 years and have called for a 35% salary increase.
But NHS leaders have raised concerns about the "major disruption" the strike will cause in the aftermath of a heatwave which prompted a yellow "heat-health alert" across much of the country. Public health leaders warned earlier this week of an increased risk to life because of the heat.
Meanwhile some doctors at hospitals in London that have recently been targeted by cyber attacks have agreed to stay on.
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Doctors have said that they don't want to be on strike, but feel they have no choice.
Dr Kashif Cheema, of the doctors' union the British Medical Association, said: "Patients are waiting ten hours in A&E corridors because there aren't enough of us to see them".
He added that "the key reason for this is that people are going abroad where they can get paid better [and] have a better quality of life."
And more strikes could take place in the summer if the next government does not progress negotiations with junior doctors in a "timely manner", the BMA has warned.
The union said it had already begun talks with the Labour Party ahead of next week's General Election.
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Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has promised talks on July 5 if his party wins, the BMA said.
But Mr Streeting has said he will not meet the 35% ask, saying that if he gave in to the demand then "any trade union worth their salt" would come back the following year with the same request.
He has said there is "space for a discussion" on pay, as well as negotiations on how to improve working conditions for medics in training.
Junior doctors said they would call off the strike if Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a credible commitment to restore their pay.
"We were hoping that maybe this would allow him to see how this could be a mutual win for both," said Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA's junior doctors' committee.
He said the current strike mandate ends on September 19, adding: "If talks do not move in a timely manner, then of course our members would expect us to call for strike action.
"We have had three 98% 'yes' votes to our ballots for industrial action to restore their pay because they know, unfortunately, words don't mean anything unless it's written down and action is taken to achieve something."
Asked about talks with Mr Streeting, committee co-chair Dr Robert Laurenson said: "He is talking about things like 'journey, not an event' - we're happy to have a multi-year pay deal. He has seemingly heard that and (his remark of) 'journey not an event' matches that."
Dr Trivedi added: "The main thing that I've taken away from discussions is that there does seem like there is a willingness to try and at least engage in constructive and meaningful (talks)."
The BMA's chairman of council Professor Philip Banfield said: "It's got to a point where doctors felt completely disempowered and what has happened is the juniors have got together and power of social media and WhatsApp, they started talking to each other and saying: 'You know what, enough is enough'.
Junior doctors strike in Birmingham
"The junior doctors are really good at communicating with each other via WhatsApp and that has been the key to the success of their strike action because the junior doctors committee can talk almost instantaneously with their membership - they can talk to 50,000 people really quickly and get instant reports back. I'd love to have an organisation that actually can do that.
"You've seen industrial action now go on for well over a year. It's incredibly disappointing that this has gone this far."
He added: "We have met with Labour several times over the last two years - we haven't always agreed, we've had disagreements. So, do I expect the conversation to take place? Yes. Do I expect that conversation to be one that is easy or tough? It'll be a tough conversation."
Prof Banfield said Mr Sunak's government "felt that although there was a probably a deal to be done with consultants and specialist doctors, that the junior doctors weren't interested in a deal at all".
"It just has felt as if government has wanted to do a deal with consultants first, which has cost them a considerable amount of money. Then done the specialists and they've just procrastinated over the juniors."
Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at The King's Fund think tank, said: "An immediate challenge facing the next government will be resolving industrial action in the NHS which has lasted for well over a year now.
"It is difficult to comprehend how either the Conservative Party or the Labour Party can deliver on their manifesto commitment to recover NHS performance over the next parliament without first ending the dispute."
