Northern Ireland junior doctors to strike over pay and conditions

Junior doctors in Northern Ireland have voted in favour of taking strike action.

The doctors are to walk out of work for 24 hours from 8am on March 6.

They are calling for better pay inline with their counterparts in the rest of the UK.

Junior doctors working in Northern Ireland range from being newly qualified doctors earning less than £13 per-hour basic pay to experienced surgeons earning £30 per-hour basic pay.

The BMA said there was a 68.7% turnout for the ballot with 97.6% of those voting yes to a full 24-hour walkout.

It follows similar industrial action in other parts of the UK.

Dr Fiona Griffin, chair of BMA’s Northern Ireland junior doctors committee, said the yes vote is “a clear indication of the strength of feeling among junior doctors about years of pay erosion”.

“It is clear from this result that junior doctors feel they have no other option but to strike. We owe it to ourselves, our patients and the future of the health service to act,” said Dr Griffin.

“We have had 16 years of pay erosion which now amounts to over 30% loss of pay, yet in this time our workload and burnout levels have risen. Coupled with rising inflation this is a huge financial loss for anyone in any profession, but it is causing an acute workforce crisis among junior doctors as many are thinking about leaving Northern Ireland to work elsewhere for better pay and working conditions, where the complex and skilled work we undertake is properly rewarded.

"These are the consultants, GPs and specialty doctors of the future, medics that we are relying on to drive down our waiting lists.”

Dr Griffin said a recent pay meeting between Department of Health officials left them feeling “extremely disappointed and disheartened”.

“We entered that meeting with the hope that good faith negotiations would commence on doctor’s pay asks. Instead we were presented with a fait accompli of a below inflation 6% uplift, that will be awarded in the next financial year. We were told any further discussions on pay had to be delayed until the ongoing Westminster pay negotiations with doctors in England had concluded, despite health and pay being devolved matters.

“All of this is simply unacceptable and is far from the spirit of meaningful engagement on pay. It further adds to the sense that the role doctors play in the health service is simply not valued.”

Dr Griffin called on the Health Minister and the Executive to fight for proper investment in the health service’s key asset – its staff.

“Junior doctors must be paid fairly for the work that we do and that means nothing less than an immediate, above inflation pay award and a commitment to full pay restoration to 2008 levels,” she said. “The future of our profession and our health service depends on this issue being addressed urgently and we are willing to get around the negotiating table at any time to achieve this. I also call on all political representatives to show their support and join us on the picket lines on 6 March.”

UTV has asked the Health Department for a statement.

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