‘WE NEED other unions who are being attacked by this government to take action,’ BMA junior doctors committee member Aislinn Macklin-Doherty told News Line yesterday.
Junior doctors will be joined on the picket lines by health workers, trade unionists and supporters outside hospitals up and down the country from 8.00am this morning. And NHS students will come out on strike for an hour in solidarity with the junior doctors.
Speaking on the eve of today’s strike, Dr Macklin-Doherty stressed: ‘It’s important to recognise it’s more than the junior doctors’ contract, it’s an assault on the NHS as a whole. It’s been happening by stealth over the past 25 years and has culminated in an attack on the NHS workforce.
‘We need a unified voice, only together will it be heard. We don’t want to put any patient at risk but the government’s plans will put patients at infinite risk. I am for protracted, escalating industrial action. We have to defeat this government, it’s not like living in a democracy but in a dictatorship.’
Student nurses leader Danielle Tiplady told News Line: ‘NHS students will walk out at 10.00am to defend the bursary and to show solidarity with the junior doctors. It is important for us to unite and stand against the government and their devastating cuts.
‘If we don’t unite and stand against the government I fear we are at risk of losing the NHS forever.’
Dr Pav Serai said: ‘All unions should take action. Ultimately we are fighting for a better NHS for the future, it’s not just about junior doctors. All public sector workers are being mistreated by this government. My brother is a teacher and they are put under tremendous strain. All the unions should get together and take strike action – we need a general strike to remove this Tory government.’
Olivia Chapman, a junior doctor at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said: ‘The strike is a good call – to get out on the picket line and explain to everyone why we are striking. We’re fighting for patient safety against an unfair contract.’
Medical student Joe Harris told News Line: ‘Medical students have been encouraged to come down to join the pickets and boycott their own teaching, and the sentiment is strong. We have had a few emails saying that our teaching in hospitals will continue and we should attend, but a lot of medical students that I know say that they do not want to cross the picket lines and will join the junior doctors as a show of solidarity.
‘There is fear amongst the next generation of medical students about what these changes mean. Junior doctors are fighting for us. And it is not just junior doctors. Look what is happening to student nurses having their bursaries cut. Medical students are becoming more aware and getting more involved, and not just about what is happening with junior doctors, but the bigger picture, student nurses and other health professionals.
‘Everyone should come out and defend the NHS whether you are a cleaner or a consultant. It has been evident the misinformation and lies that we have been fed by the government, not only with the recent junior doctors scandal, but also the Health and Social Care Act.
‘With the broken promises on the NHS by the Tories, more and more people working in health care are waking up and realising that the NHS is not safe in Tory hands.’
