Striking doctors in Manchester say their walk-out is about finding a job as well as pay
ITV Granada Reports correspondent Ann O'Connor spoke with Resident Doctors on the picket lines
Doctors on a picket line have told ITV News their dispute is about being able to find a "medical job" as well as how much they are paid.
Thousands of resident doctors across the North West and beyond have gone on strike for five days, in a row with the Government over pay and working conditions.
It is a walk-out that will cause "harm" to patients, in the words of the Health Secretary, and could lead to job cuts according to those representing NHS service providers.
Dr Madjda Bougherira, a psychiatry resident on the picket line outside Manchester Royal Infirmary, said the strike is not over pay alone but also over a "speciality training crisis" leaving some doctors having to take "non-medical jobs."
Dr Madjda Bougherira says first year doctors, who have trained or worked at the hospital, are "no longer guaranteed a job working as a doctor"
Dr Bougherira said: "Doctors who work here, who have trained here, are no longer guaranteed, or anywhere close to being guaranteed, a job as a doctor.
"We have doctors in the North West who’ve applied for 300 jobs and are not able to find work as a doctor.
"They’re having to work non-medical jobs to get paid.
"It’s a ridiculous situation when patients are waiting to see us and we’re waiting to see them."
Dr Vivek Trivedi says doctors just wanted to be paid fairly
British Medical Association committee member, Dr Vivek Trivedi, argued that doctors' pay is "still a fifth down on what it was in 2008" and has not risen like the pay of the "average person."
"Doctors were starting out much further behind," he said.
"The average weekly earnings [rise] from September 2010 to December 2024 was about 60% for the average person.
"For doctors it’s... in the mid-30%.
"So we’re still so far behind. We’re not asking for the world. We just want to have our pay cuts reversed."
Health Secretary Wes Streeting speaks on the strikes
The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, has described the BMA as holding patients to "ransom" in an "unnecessary and irresponsible" strike.
"I’m so angry that the BMA have chosen this course of action," said Mr Streeting.
"Resident doctors have had a 28.9 per cent pay rise from this Government and that’s because I understood well the pressures their part of the profession were facing.
"They are inflicting disruption and harm on patients and tax payers who have paid for these pay rises and expect the NHS to be there for them when they need it."
Earlier, Mr Streeting said he was proposing changes to improve doctors’ lives, including more training places and changes to international recruitment.
He acknowledged that two-thirds of the 30,000 doctors applying for 10,000 training places are international medical graduates.
He said: “One of the things that I’m doing is putting an end to the absurdity where homegrown talent are having to compete for the same training places on equal terms against people who’ve trained overseas.
“I think it’s crackers. I think it’s unfair to our own doctors.
“So, I’m working as fast as I can and hopefully that will be by 2027, but I’m actually looking at whether I can do something much more urgently.
“The challenge is a legal one."
The five-day action is the 13th strike by doctors since March 2023, with the last one in July estimated to have cost the health service £300 million.
NHS Confederation and NHS Providers said that if the NHS continues to have to foot the bill from strikes, it could lead to staff being cut and fewer tests, appointments and operations being carried out.
They claim patients could face knock-on impacts, such as waiting longer for care, and many may no longer be able to work without the treatment they need.
The groups also warned that strikes are hitting progress in bringing down NHS waiting lists.
Figures on Thursday 13 November showed early signs that the waiting list is dropping, with September seeing a slight fall after three consecutive months of rises.
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