Much needed medical talent could take flight unless pay dispute is resolved - The Yorkshire Post says

While it will only add to frustration for patients already suffering from unacceptably long waiting times, it’s easy to understand the plight of junior doctors.

The warning is that there won’t be any doctors left if pay doesn’t improve. And that is the nub of the matter when it comes to junior doctors going on strike. Being a doctor was once considered a prestigious job. A role that only the best of the best were able to attain.

Inflation has obviously put the Government in a difficult spot as throwing money around is just not feasible.

However, as the doctors union the British Medical Association (BMA) has repeatedly pointed out, the strikes aren’t just to do with the impact of inflation on doctors pay packets. Instead it’s about the real terms cut to pay that doctors have suffered over 13 years of Tory-led Government.

There are underlying issues in the NHS and the country needs to find a sustainable way of funding it. But in the here and now, the message seems to be that junior doctors aren’t valued.

Doctors have already spoken of how careers overseas are looking increasingly attractive. It leaves the NHS vulnerable when it comes to talent being poached. Why would any country want to make it an unattractive profession when being a doctor requires great skill?

Chants by striking junior doctors of “claps don’t pay the bills” were telling. They haven’t forgotten the sacrifices that they and their colleagues had to make during the worst of the Covid crisis.

And in this context, the frustration boiling over into industrial action is completely understandable.