I joined the picket line at the MRI (Manchester Royal Infirmary) today, as part of the Manchester People's Assembly Against Austerity and as a Green Party member. Two thirds of the public support the strike, there was even one of the shock jocks on the national right wing radio station LBC supporting the strike today too.
Full details of why the doctors are on strike and why the public need to support them to save the NHS from further Tory decimation and privatisation can be read at the British Medical Association and on this flyer, the text of which to the end of this post.
Come along to the Manchester People's Assembly Against Austerity monthly meeting tonight. 7.00-8.30 at the Central Methodist Hall on Oldham St, M1. At this event we will get reports from the day's strike, hear briefings from the Chair of the Midwifery Society on the NHS Student Bursary robbery and discuss how to help.
Let's get the New Year off to a great start and plan the anti-austerity actions. Money for Trident, war and no money for NHS or flood help. Come along and have your say and get involved!
Why there is a strike:
"The Government is threatening the future of the NHS. They want to remove safety measures that stop junior doctors from working excessive hours. They want to force through a contract on junior doctors which threatens the quality of care patients receive. Junior doctors don’t want to strike, but the Government has left us with no alternative.
This is the first time in 40 years that junior doctors have staged a walkout. It’s a last resort – but we
genuinely feel we have no choice.
Junior doctors are angry at the way in which the Government is riding roughshod over the genuine concerns
doctors are raising about patient safety and doctors’ wellbeing. We are fed up of hearing Government
ministers undervalue our work and undermine patients’ trust in us. Many of us are already at breaking point,
looking to work overseas or even leaving the medical profession altogether.
Junior doctors believe that the Government’s plans will harm the next generation of doctors – and the future
of the NHS itself.
Nothing the Government has said has given us any hope that they are prepared to negotiate properly and
listen to our concerns.
What do junior doctors want?
First and foremost, we want to negotiate a contract that is fair for doctors, safe for
patients and provides a future for the NHS.
However, to be able to get back round the table, we want the Government to remove the threat to impose a
new, unnegotiated contract on us.
We want a contract which:
– pays us fairly for the hours we work
– ensures that the hours we work are safe
– provides cover at weekends and at night, but also recognises our right to family life
– doesn’t disadvantage those doctors who work less than full time or who take parental leave
In numbers: junior doctors and the NHS
– There are 53,000 junior doctors in England
– Junior doctors already work seven days a week
– Every week, the NHS treats over 4 million patients
– Junior doctors care for patients in hospitals 365 days a year
The BMA is the independent trade union and professional association for all doctors working in the UK."
I would have supported them too.... if I had lived in the UK
ReplyDeleteThe government needs a smack upside the head. Unfortunately your current generation of Tories still follows the example of Mrs. Thatcher who didn't believe in things like societies.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that'll annoy the resident grump who shows up here every few days, Chrissy.
I'd like the NHS to be a 7 day a week service to stop all the extra deaths at weekends.
ReplyDeleteIt is utterly appalling that this still happens after nearly 68 years of the NHS's existence and is a clear indication that many staff want a Mon to Fri job with office hours.
Anyone with this attitude should have chosen to be an accountant, a teacher or some other regular hours job rather than a doctor.
When NHS hold up banners saying 'Save Our NHS' it is clear that the 'our' means theirs, not the public's. They think the NHS's is run primarily for their benefit.
Hi Chrissy,
ReplyDeleteGood for you. I support them.
:o)
Cheers
PM