Doctors are due to strike in Leeds today unless deal is struck

The British Medical Association (BMA) said resident doctors will strike on five consecutive days from 7am on November 14 to 7am on November 19.

Resident doctors, previously named junior doctors, make up around half of all doctors in the NHS. The action is a result of an ongoing row over jobs and pay.

In West Yorkshire, pickets are expected at Leeds General Infirmary from 8am to 11am outside Jubilee Wing and, in South Yorkshire, at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - Royal Hallamshire Hospital - from 8am to 11am.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting previously described the move as “preposterous” and accused the BMA of “blocking a better deal for doctors”.

Responding to comments from NHS Providers and NHS Confederation, threatening the need to cut services if strikes continue, BMA resident doctors committee chair Dr Jack Fletcher said: “These strikes did not have to go ahead and the Government can stop them even now with a decent offer on pay and jobs.

“So we must ask, given their supposed concern about the strikes, why are NHS Providers and NHS Confederation not making this appeal to the Government?

“This seems to be a case of NHS managers emotionally blackmailing frontline staff who are taking legitimate industrial action to defend their pay and conditions, and fight for employment.

“Today’s strikes have not come out of the blue. We have been telling the Government for months that without an offer that addresses both the absurd situation of doctors facing unemployment while people struggle to get appointments, and cuts to pay that fail to value the doctors we do have, we would be forced to take to the picket lines once again. We have been clear that we are willing to work with ministers to reach a solution on both of these fronts. Unfortunately it is the failure of the Government to bring anything nearly enough to the table that has got us to where we are today.

“What has been offered so far still leaves thousands of resident doctors without a role this year, and the Government seems determined to cut pay even further next year.

“Any resident doctor would also challenge the narrative being pushed by Government and managers that the NHS is somehow turning a corner. We have doctors sitting on bins because there aren’t enough chairs, patients routinely being seen in corridors, A&E waits through the roof and rota gaps are an accepted norm. How on earth can doctors provide high-quality care in such conditions? We cannot let the Government and managers gaslight the public into putting the blame for these system-wide failures at the doors of hardworking doctors who are standing up for their profession and the future of the health service.

“Strikes need not go ahead, trusts need not lose money and patients need not have their appointments cancelled. All the Government needs to do is propose a deal that that values doctors, allows them to offer their true potential across the NHS and keeps them in the workforce to continue treating patients. An investment in this will pay off dividends in the long run for the health of the population.”

Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.

Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Another strike by resident doctors is the last thing the NHS needs, particularly as we head into what’s going to be another challenging winter for the health service.

“Trust leaders will do everything they can to prepare for this five-day walkout, but once again it’ll be patients that will be left paying the price.”