Mersey Reporter - #Merseybites #News

A 72-hour Doctors, Consultants, and Junior Doctors Strike started at 7am today (2 October 2023) in England.

The 3 day walkout is expected to result in extreme disruption to many patients attending or due to attend NHS Hospitals for non-emergency care throughout England.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has promised "Christmas Day" cover, meaning emergency care will be staffed, with only minimal cover elsewhere.

The 2 groups on Strike represent about ⅘ (80%) of Doctors working in Hospitals.

Many are questioning why they are striking, as many non-medical staff think payments made to Doctors are already high. We met Doctors on the picket line outside Southport and they told us that it is far more than just pay.

According to them, the workload and conditions they now face day to day are affecting their work-life balance, which is leading to multiple health issues. As a result, many Doctors are leaving.

Apart from that, many of the medical authorities require Doctors to pay for keeping up their training, pay for their DBS checks, pay for their PIN registration, and the list goes on.

Doctors are also warning that the UK Government is privatising by the back door. They highlighted the number of Private Ambulances now being used, over NHS Ambulance.

This is more the austerity measures over many years that are undermining this institution. Several Doctors pointed out that Managers are often paid more, yet they do not have the overheads. Many of the management are untrained in medical work, and if you cut out all the unnecessary administrative layers, the money is already in the system. Often this top-heavy administrative lead system within the NHS also slows down treatment and quality of care. Several Doctors said that this is also a reason why so many are leaving the NHS.

We spoke to a former Consultant who left the NHS just before the Covid19 Pandemic due to stress. He has told us he is now recovering and is paid more selling used cars, with less stress, and a better family life, than he was as a lead Consultant at an NHS Hospital. He said he looked at leaving the UK, but decided to leave the medical World, as he did not want to move his family away from their life in the UK, but he could not continue to justify the cost to his health, due to the many unpaid hours he was doing, onto of the pressure of the job, along with falling pay.

On the other side, this industrial action is leading to many patients having delays in treatment, which is increasingly problematic for those on strike, as Doctors do not want to cause more distress to patients.

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Liverpool (Gladstone)

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