Kettering General Hospital junior doctors begin strike action in row about pay

Scores of vital junior doctors employed at Kettering General Hospital have begun a 72-hour walkout today (Monday).

Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) in England will begin three days of strike action over pay and being ‘devalued’.

They say that there has been a more than 26 per cent real-term cut to their pay since 2008/09 with 98 per cent of junior doctors who took part in the ballot voting for strike action.

KGH bosses have urged local people to ‘play their part’ and only access 999 and emergency services if they have a serious illness or injury.

Dr Geeth Silva, who lives in Kettering and works on surgical wards, is on strike today. He said: “Personally I think it’s been a long time coming. Most of us started our jobs in Covid-19.

"Our profession has been devalued. If we don’t fight there won’t be anything for the future. The main issue is pay. Some of my colleagues have £80,000-plus of student debt. Friends I trained with are leaving for better paid jobs in the city.”

Standing on the picket line since the start of the strike, Dr Lucy Bleazard said that the promise of a high salary in the future was no use to her now.

She said: “I’ve got £83,000 worth of student debt and maintenance loans. We spend six years at uni. The interest rate on the loan is 6.9 per cent.

"The promise of having pay in ten to 20 years’ time doesn’t make us able to pay our bills now or pay a mortgage.”

It is believed that several hundred doctors will be on strike for the three days. They will return to work at 7am on March 16.

Junior doctors’ current hourly basic pay for delivering essential weekday care can be as low as £14.09 at the start of their career, rising to just £28 per hour after a minimum of seven years of training.

The BMA wants full pay restoration, an agreed pay mechanism to protect against effects of the cost of living and inflation, and an independent pay review process to ‘safeguard’ the recruitment and retention of junior doctors.

Junior doctors at KGH last went on strike in 2016

Residents have been asked to help ease pressures on hospital beds by supporting family members to get home and by accessing services at Corby Urgent Care Centre.

Matt Metcalfe, chief medical officer of NHS Northamptonshire ICB: said: “During this round of industrial action, probably more than any other, we are urging local people to only use 999 or attend emergency department if they have a life-threatening illness or injury to enable the clinicians who will be running our hospitals to care for those with the highest need.

"Despite our system having plans in place to manage disruptions such as industrial action and urgent services will be prioritised, we expect minimal levels of junior doctors in our hospitals and this will inevitably have an impact.

“We would ask families to help us free up much needed hospital bed capacity so we can ensure our beds are occupied by those most in need of acute hospital care, by supporting the discharge of a relative back into the community as soon as possible.”