Junior Doctors in HCSA – the hospital doctors’ union will strike for the first time in the union’s history on Wednesday 15th March.
This follows an unprecedented 97% Yes vote for strike by members on 75% turnout.
Announcing the strike, HCSA President Dr Naru Narayanan said: “Junior Doctors have held together patient care amid a spiralling staffing crisis. In return for this huge emotional, mental and physical toll they’ve been subjected to a decade of real-terms pay cuts totalling over 26%. Enough is enough.
“Our NHS is in an intolerable situation, and Junior Doctors will not be taken for granted anymore. They are taking decisive action for their patients and for their own wellbeing.
“Falling pay, increasing workloads and dangerous levels of understaffing have driven carers across the NHS to strike. The blame for this lies solely with a complacent government, seemingly content to let patient care suffer.
“The ball is firmly in the government’s court. It must act now to negotiate a proper pay increase – part of a wider funding package for the NHS.
“Junior Doctors are telling us that without change they will leave the NHS or leave the country entirely for better-paid medical jobs elsewhere Our health service simply cannot afford for that to happen.”
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The ballot was of training-grade hospital doctors employed by NHS trusts in England.
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HCSA is the trade union and professional association for hospital doctors of all grades, across the UK.