Junior doctors strike starts as the BMA call out Rishi Sunak for not making pay commitment

The eleventh junior doctors strike began on Thursday, June 27 at 7am and will continue until 7am on Tuesday. July 2. This impacts the NHS nationwide including the Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust which runs Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham.

READ MORE: NHS Trusts appeal for help from the public as latest strike looms

Junior doctors who are members of the British Medical Association (BMA) have walked out this morning despite concerns from NHS bosses that combined with the heatwave will put additional stress on services. However, the BMA have this morning criticised Rishi Sunak for failing to negotiate and put a stop to the strike.

On Thursday, June 20 the BMA wrote a letter to Sunak asking for a commitment in writing to restoring pay as a means to end the strike. BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said:  “It is immensely disappointing that the Prime Minister has once again failed to deliver for his constituents and NHS patients.

 “The PM has cynically blamed his own failure to get waiting lists down on striking doctors, all the while dragging out talks in the full knowledge that it was going to cause yet more strike action. By first calling an election and then refusing any attempt to engage he has shown he clearly had no intention of sorting this dispute out in good time.

 “We have been as reasonable as we can: we gave him a final chance to put forward an offer. When he did not we gave him plenty of time to correct his mistake and gave him a clear way of doing so. He could have put in writing a commitment to pay restoration should he form the next Government. At a time when he is making plenty of commitments in a general election, this only meant making one more.

 “No doctor wants to strike – not this time nor the ten rounds of action before it. We have been forced to this position by more than a decade of savage pay cuts, and nothing would make us happier than returning to work this week with a commitment to pay restoration.

 “Once again though, the Prime Minister has failed to take the opportunity in front of him. His own ministers now admit that the failure to negotiate with us has been a terrible mistake, acknowledging that the only way to solve this dispute was by getting round the table and discussing pay with us. Now, at the very last, we ask the Prime Minister to consider whether they might have a point.”

During the strike the NHS have asked for the publics support in ensuring those most in need get the care they need. Further details of the best facility to visit depending on your injury or illness can be found on the NHS website.