JUNIOR doctors striking at a picket line outside of Llandough Hospital have put in crystal clear terms why the five per cent pay increase offered by the Welsh Government isn’t enough.
Lucy Hall, 24, is six months into her two-year foundation work at hospitals in South Wales including Llandough and the Heath.
She spent five years at medical school and is currently earning £13.65 an hour.
Solveig Hoppe, 30, is a senior house officer at Llandough having done a three-year bachelor course in medicine and going on to a four-year graduate scheme.
She estimates her training cost her £9,000 a year – over seven years that equates to over £40,000 in training fees.
Dr Hoppe currently earns £28,000 annually.
Stood outside on a cold but busy Wednesday morning at Llandough Hospital, Dr Hall described the pay as “dismal” in comparison to other graduate salaries.
She described how friends in other industries who have done as much training as her, go into schemes with starting salaries as much as £60,000 a year.
Dr Oba Babs-Osibodu and Dr Peter Fahey, co-chairs of the British Medical Association Cymru Wales’ junior doctors committee, said doctors working for the NHS are “demoralised, frustrated and angry” as they took three days of strike action.
And the disruption could rumble on after health minster Eluned Morgan said there was no more money to offer them.
Dr Hall said the strikes were as much about the future security of the NHS as well as how much money is going into junior doctors' pockets.
“I feel this is the only option for us to get attention,” said Dr Hall.
“It is about our pay being eroded by nearly a third in the last three years and we are losing our colleagues to England and overseas because they are getting paid better.
“In 10 years time we want a healthcare service that will actually provide adequate healthcare.”
For Dr Hall, the five per cent pay rise offered is not enough and while we put to her that people starting other professions are earning less than her, she emphasised the value of staff in the marketplace.
“There are people paid less, but if you compare us to our graduate colleagues who sit post-grad exams we are paid dismally in comparison,” said Dr Hall.
Cardiff and Vale Health Board said they had to cancel most elective and non-urgent appointments and surgeries which were scheduled to take place over the 72-hour strike.
Read more
- Junior doctors strikes: Wales doctors walkout
- NHS in Wales coping with increased pressures on services after junior doctors three-day walkout over pay
- NHS faces appointment cancellations in junior doctor strikes
In her latest statement, Ms Morgan said the health service had held up well during the first round of strikes.
Ms Morgan said a higher pay offer was impossible without additional funding from the UK Government.
She told a press conference on January 16: “We fully understand the strength of feeling behind the strike action but our funding settlement, which comes largely from the UK Government in the form of a block grant, is simply not sufficient to recognise the demands junior doctors are making,”
Right or wrong? Support the strikes, or should the doctors get back to work? Undervalued or paid enough? Let us know in comments and on our Facebook page, or email harry.jamshidian@newsquest.co.uk.
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