Striking doctors have told of difficult working conditions as they manned picket lines across England. Resident doctor Kelly Johnson said Health Secretary Wes Streeting's opposition to the strikes felt like "a slap in the face".
Speaking outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, where she works, Johnson told the PA news agency: "Every union has the right to strike. It feels like a slap in the face to say that we are doing something that is unjust."
Doctors defend strike action
She added: "Just because we're doctors doesn't mean we can't come out and strike and protest for what we think is right. When doctors decide to take strike action it's always portrayed as though we're being selfish, but we're here as a body to help the public day in, day out, to work hours that don't even end sometimes."
Johnson continued: "Here we are just trying to get what's right for us so we can do our best to serve the public." Around 30 doctors and supporters gathered outside Leeds General Infirmary on Friday morning, waving placards and cheering as passing cars beeped horns in support.
Staff shortages create safety concerns
Cristina Costache, who is a paediatrics registrar at Leeds General Infirmary and a PhD student, said: "It's a very difficult decision to make always, because I love my job and that's the reason I went into it. I get depressed if I'm not in work. My heart is always at work."
She explained the impact of staff shortages: "I'm seeing more and more gaps as registrars. There's always a gap on the paediatric registrar rota. We end up having to cover the job of another paediatric registrar, of even two other paediatric registrars."
Poor pay drives workforce crisis
Costache said: "My SHOs (senior house officers) also have gaps, so I sometimes have to cover their job as well as my registrar job. That's not safe and that's not okay. The reason that happens is that they're poorly paid. If you're poorly paid, why would you want to come in on your free time when you know you're going to be on nights the next day and then so three or four nights in a row?"
Dr Costache said she left Romania due to the poor health infrastructure and lack of investment. She said: "It's really sad to have seen in the last nine years, since being here, how the NHS is heading that way. Hence, I'm a trade unionist because I feel like I want to tell people, please don't do what has happened there."
Supporters call for pay restoration
Dave Bell, a retired nurse and member of the campaign group Keep Our NHS Public, stood in solidarity with striking doctors outside St Thomas' Hospital. "Britain's doctors are the backbone of our NHS," he said. "If you ask anyone who's been to a hospital, they'll tell you those staff work their socks off."
He called for urgent "pay restoration", adding: "We need to value those doctors and restore their pay to what it was 15 years ago." But he acknowledged the difficulty of strike action within NHS teams.
Unity crucial despite tensions
Bell said: "I took strike action once when I was a nurse - of course it causes tensions. You're working hard, and if medical staff walk out, it gets even harder for those still in." Despite this, he said unity is crucial, adding: "In the long run, people have got to work together - the unions too. It can be overcome."
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
