Junior doctors on strike is about one thing - money

The junior doctors have been back on the picket lines again, still upset about Jeremy Hunt's plans for a seven-day-a-week NHS.
Junior doctors on strike outside Queen Alexandra Hospital in CoshamJunior doctors on strike outside Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham
Junior doctors on strike outside Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham

They were standing around with their silly placards and shouting just like the scruffs you see all too often in London, protesting about some injustice or other.

One placard read ‘Junior doctors are here for you’. This was just as thousands of operations were being cancelled.

Oh, the irony.

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When someone becomes ill, they don’t choose when or what day it is going to happen.

It can happen at any time. If the medical profession is the one you choose, then you should expect your working hours to reflect this.

This is nothing to do with the quality of job that people perform. They do an excellent job and no-one is disputing this.

We have all benefited from those who work in the NHS and are extremely grateful for the job they do .

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We also think they deserve to be paid well for doing it. But let’s not kid ourselves the striking is about patient safety or the future of the NHS.

This is purely about money. They can say it isn’t, but it is.

Currently, overtime is paid for working unsociable hours. But under the new contract, the working week will become seven days and this overtime rate will no longer be there.

Plenty of other professions have to work these hours and not get paid any enhancements for doing so.

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And those doctors who are threatening to leave the NHS, where are they going to go? They could always leave the profession completely if it’s that bad, or maybe they could go abroad and fill the gap left behind by the doctors who come to work over here because the pay is better!

Those working in the core services shouldn’t be allowed to strike. The police and military aren’t allowed to and have had to put up with sweeping cuts recently.

We shouldn’t be held to ransom by these unions and their bosses.

And another thing. Why are many of those striking wearing their uniform outside? So much for infection control and patient safety.

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