Junior doctors on strike in Wales say they feel undervalued
- Published
Junior doctors were on the picket line at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales on Monday
Junior doctors have defended strike action over pay, saying they do not feel valued.
The three-day walkout began on Monday morning following a pay dispute with the Welsh government.
Hundreds of operations and thousands of appointments have been postponed, with health bosses warning of disruption.
The Welsh government's pay rise offer of 5% was rejected by the British Medical Association (BMA).
The BMA said its members had been "forced" to take the "difficult decision" to strike after seeing their pay drop by almost a third over the past 15 years.
There are about 4,000 junior doctors in Wales, many of whom work in hospitals.
The starting salary for a junior doctor in the Welsh NHS is £28,471, external.
Gaynor Barret said junior doctors' pay is not as high as people think
Gaynor Barret, a junior doctor from Monmouth who joined the picket line at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthenshire, said there was a misconception about pay.
"I know people think that doctors are well paid, but when we start out it's actually lower pay than a lot of jobs," Dr Barret said.
"My older daughter has actually just started at Network Rail at a higher rate than when I started out," she added.
Dr Peter Fahey, co-chairman of BMA Cymru Wales' junior doctors committee, said pay was the "primary measure of how your employer values you as an employee".
"So having pay as low as it is, it means doctors don't feel valued," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.
"Further pay erosion this year is just the absolute kick in the teeth for doctors," he added.
Operations and appointments cancelled
Stephen Jones, 65, from Pontypool, Torfaen, has been waiting for a knee replacement since 2021.
His operation was postponed earlier this month for health reasons and rescheduled for Thursday, but it has now been rescheduled again due to the strike.
Despite being frustrated with the delay, Mr Jones told the BBC Radio Wales's Phone-In programme he supported doctors on the picket line "all the way".
"I'm upset because I've been waiting so long for this operation but I totally agree with them," he added.
"I think it's the Welsh government - Mark Drakeford - is not spending the money in the right places," he said.
At Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, junior doctor Catrin Davies said her colleagues were "actively leaving the country" because of pay and conditions.
She said it was "getting more and more difficult to look after our patients with NHS pressures that are only increasing".
Catrin Davies, left, says doctors are moving abroad for better pay
First Minister Mark Drakeford said the pay offer of 5% to doctors, below the 6% recommended by the independent pay body, was at the "far end" of what the Welsh government could afford.
Any more, he said, would depend on the UK government finding more money to end the junior doctors dispute in England, which would lead to extra funding coming to Wales.
But the UK government said the Welsh government had got its spending priorities wrong.
Wales' Health Minister Eluned Morgan said she understood the strength of feeling and the right to strike, but said offering junior doctors more money would be "unrealistic".
"The only place we can go for more money is to cut it from other parts of the NHS and I'm not sure if the public would thank us for that," Ms Morgan said.
In England, junior doctors have already been given an 8.8% pay increase, but have rejected an additional offer worth 3% on average.
In Scotland, an improved offer of 12.4% has been accepted, while in Northern Ireland a ballot is planned.
Related topics
- Published15 January
- Published14 January
- Published4 August 2023
- Published27 December 2023
