UNIVERSITY Hospitals Dorset will have to “work differently” over the next few days as planned strike activity is set to bring disruption to the service.
Junior doctors took to a picket line outside Royal Bournemouth Hospital on Monday morning and will continue to strike until Wednesday, March 15, in a bitter dispute over pay and working conditions.
Dr Dan Hamond, a junior doctor outside RBH, said they are there because they want “pay restoration” - a pay rise cancelling out the real terms pay cut of 26 per cent.
He added: “A junior doctor, five years out of university and £100,000 of debt, is paid £14 an hour – we should be paid more.”
Dr Samuel McKeown added: “We work a 48 hour week, but that doesn't consider the extra shifts picked up to be able to afford to live as well as the training and studying.
“I recently paid £350 to sit a professional exam – that's one of three exams and is the cheapest. The next one is £600 and the one after that is £950, and those prices are going up this year.”
A picket line outside Royal Bournemouth Hospital for striking junior doctors. One tells me their pay is “unsustainable” and they ask they are paid fairly @Bournemouthecho pic.twitter.com/Pexf7DT3zz
— Matt Simpson (@MattSimpsonEcho) March 13, 2023
Read more: Ambulance strike: UHD issues warning to Dorset residents
He added there have been moments where he and fellow staff have been close to breaking point and there is “a lot of suicide and burnout amongst junior doctors”.
“We’ve all had times where we look at ourselves and think ‘we have to keep doing this’; we work ourselves to the bone, we are in wards looking after 50 patients by ourselves and then you remember you have to go home and revise for an exam.
“You start to think is this sustainable and can I keep doing this?”
University Hospitals Dorset has reacted to the strikes by putting the major planned and elective care on the back seat while it concentrates on emergencies and those already in hospital.
Dr Matt Thomas, deputy chief medical officer for UHD, advised people to think carefully before ringing 999 or visiting the emergency department, advising patients to use 101 online, GPs and pharmacists.
“This would really help Dorset’s hospitals to concentrate on the ones who really need to be in hospital,” he told the Echo.
He added UHD tries to stay “neutral” in these strikes, adding: “We respect people’s right to strike and that is absolutely true with our staff.
“We try to support them out on the picket line with refreshments because it is cold and pretty horrible out there.
“We hope for the residents that a resolution is found soon.”
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