JUNIOR Doctors and Consultants begin three days of joint strike action at 7am this morning, determined to defend the NHS and defeat the Tory onslaught on their pay.
Thousands of striking doctors from all around the country will be rallying outside the Conservative Party conference in Manchester tomorrow, Tuesday 3rd October, protesting at more than 15 years of real-terms pay cuts and the government’s continued refusal to meet with the BMA and end the dispute.
BMA leaders will address both groups of doctors as they gather in St Peter’s Square, close to the Manchester Central Convention Complex at 1pm.
Meanwhile, junior doctors in the north of Ireland will be balloted on industrial action, the BMA has announced.
NIJDC (Northern Ireland Junior Doctors and Consultants) committee chair, Dr Fiona Griffin, said: ‘This is not a decision that has been taken lightly …
‘What we heard from our survey results, alongside the feedback we received from the hundreds of junior doctors who attended our workplace listening sessions earlier in the year, meant the decision to proceed towards a ballot was clear-cut for the committee.
‘There has been significant pay erosion for junior doctors over the past decade so now not only are we the only UK nation to not have received the DDRB-recommended pay uplift of 6%, but a junior doctor working here can also expect to be paid less than our colleagues working elsewhere in the UK and in other countries.’
