Wes Streeting: My message to doctors, after five days of strikes? Work with us: if you go to war with us, you’ll lose
My message to doctors, after five days of strikes? Work with us: if you go to war with us, you’ll lose | Wes Streeting
My blood BOILS when smug fuckers claim that doctors and nurses are putting lives at risk by demanding their worth. It’s such a cheap shit, and entirely disingenuous.
I can guarantee, based on how similar strikes have worked in my own country, that patient safety has been at the forefront of any planned actions. Why were there still staff on hand to cover the absences? Not because they don’t believe in the cause or are crossing the picket line, but because it was agrees that they would cover while others went on strike.
Does this put pressure on the system? Yes, that’s the point. What’s a strike without pressure? If you don’t pay people enough or give them opportunities, they will leave and you’ll be in the same position.
The problem with trying to successfully strike for medical staff is that the people in charge don’t actually give two shits about patients. They will let a thousand people die before they give doctors or nurses what they deserve. They are betting that the people whose job it is to save lives aren’t willing to put people in actual risk, and will cave long before they do.
And it’s going to work.
I live in Northern Ireland. There have been multiple strikes by health workers over recent years.
All emergencies are covered as are enough staff to look after patients in wards etc. It's just all non emergency work is cancelled.
Every time the media and government claim there are unsafe staffing levels etc. When the staffing levels are at the current levels that happen every day or sometimes even better.
Two things. Firstly, patients are being harmed because hospitals are being forced to cancel planned operations and procedures, some of which people have been waiting years for.
Secondly, they just went on strike last year and won a huge pay rise, significantly ahead of inflation. The argument put forth by the BMA is based on bad data and misleading statistics.
There are significant structural problems within the NHS that need to be addressed, including some that directly affect the earning power of young doctors. None of which will be fixed if they keep going on strike.