I write in response to the letter from senior clinicians urging resident doctors to vote against strike action (8 June). During my 22-year career we have seen fundamental changes in medical training, including the introduction of tuition fees for medical school, loss of free accommodation for first-year doctors, the lack of expansion in training numbers, and pay erosion over 15 years.
This has left many resident doctors with crippling debt on graduation, spiralling costs of training, deteriorating pay, and the prospect of unemployment. I, and the authors of the letter, were fortunate enough not to face such hardships during training.
Hence I urge colleagues not to influence the negotiations between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the government regarding resident doctors’ pay. A mandate for strike action is a strong negotiating position, and I for one welcome productive discussions between the government and the BMA to reach a fair settlement. If senior clinicians cannot be supportive of our resident doctors, I suggest that they sit on their hands (with regard to writing letters) and bite their lip.Dr Ajay M VermaKettering, Northamptonshire
A group of medical professionals write urging resident doctor colleagues to vote against proposed strike action. They cite the Hippocratic oath. They appear to overlook the daily flouting of the oath by colleagues who are active in the systems of American‑accountable care that have replaced a NationalHealthService in England.
In these, “first do no harm” appears to have been replaced by “first protect the bottom line”. The unrest among health workers is not merely about pay; it is about the degradation of an entire public service and its subservience to corporate interests, many of them American.
Let’s have impassioned letters urging the expulsion of Palantir and co and a return to the principles of Bevan rather than BlackRock. It is untrue to say “there is no spare money”. The money simply goes into the wrong pockets.Kevin DonovanBirkenhead, Merseyside
The six senior doctors who wrote to you are key among those responsible for allowing the NHS to become such an unpleasant work environment for training doctors. As Wes Streeting so eloquently pointed out, the NHS treats training doctors “like crap”. A lot could be done to improve the working lives of doctors – simply telling them not to strike is unhelpful and suggests indifference to the challenges they face. Declared interest: parent of two resident doctors.Stuart EvansMonmouth
I am a formerNHSGP now living and working in Canada. I read with interest that senior doctors recommend junior doctors don’t strike. Would these be senior doctors who had their university education paid for by the state, then had their hospital accommodation paid for by the state, and then enjoyed a fixed benefit pension that kicked in at age 60 (for most of their careers)? Society looked after them well. Could it be possible that today’s resident doctors have a different point of view for a reason?
I suppose the other thing to say is that fixing morale in the NHS and deciding where society spends its money is outside the remit of the doctor. But fixing the NHS is the government’s prerogative.Tom NewthNelson, British Columbia, Canada
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