Junior doctors strikes: NHS walkouts at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth start today amid UK strikes

Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) in England have launched three-day strike today in a week of walkouts. Several trade unions are striking on Budget Day – March 15 – in what is set to be one of the biggest days of industrial action for years.

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Picket lines formed at Queen Alexandra Hospital from 7am this morning. Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust said: ‘Junior doctor members of the BMA are currently due to take part in strike action for a continuous 72 hours, from 7am on Monday, March 13, to 7am on Thursday March 16, in an ongoing dispute between unions and the Government over pay.

‘We are working with the BMA to safely manage the impact of the industrial action and continue to provide safe care for our patients.’ The trust added patients with appointments during strike dates will be contacted directly.

If people do not hear from an NHS staff member, they are encouraged to attend their appointment as planned. Pressures may amount on A&E departments nationally.

‘Our Emergency Department will remain open for those who need urgent care, but we need your support to keep the department for those with life threatening injuries or illnesses,’ the trust said. Anyone who needs medical advice in a non-emergency situation, wants to check symptoms for themselves of their children, or does not know who to contact, are advised to call NHS 111 or visit their website.

The BMA launched an advertising campaign which said junior doctors could earn more money ‘serving coffee than saving patients’. They added that new medical professionals earn £14.09 an hour, less than a Pret A Manger barista (£14.10 an hour).

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, said: ‘Is £14.09 an hour really all junior doctors are worth? These are people who can be providing life-saving care, having trained intensively at medical school, and racking up around £100,000 worth of debt in the process.

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‘We are fully supportive of any worker getting an inflation-matching pay rise, and it is worth thinking on the fact that the Government has cut junior doctors’ pay by so much that they could earn more serving coffee.’ The co-chairs added junior doctors are fighting to restore their pay, their value and to ‘make the NHS an effective healthcare system again.’

Prime minister Rishi Sunak told reporters on his flight to the US: ‘It is very disappointing that the junior doctors’ union are not engaging with the Government. We are actually having constructive dialogue with other unions who have accepted our offer to come in and talk through it.’

Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay said: ‘It is incredibly disappointing the British Medical Association (BMA) has declined my offer to enter formal pay negotiations on the condition strikes are paused. I hugely value the hard work of junior doctors and urge unions to come to the negotiating table and cancel strikes which risk patient safety and impact efforts to tackle the backlog.’