"THIS is not about us taking a pay rise individually – it's about having an adequate salary to attract the right people into medicine and keep them for a strong NHS. This is front and centre of how we’re feeling in Dorset.”
These are the words of a consultant striking outside University Hospital Dorset’s Royal Bournemouth Hospital on Thursday morning.
Dr James Manners, consultant urologist of 10 years, said: “This isn’t about pay. The concern we have is that the pay in the UK has slipped far behind other countries.
“As a result, some people will choose to work in other countries or may not even come into medicine at all who would’ve come into medicine previously.
“Thirty years ago, a careers advisor at school would’ve said ‘You’re a bright spark, why don’t you go into medicine’.
“Now though, they say go into the media or coding. The robust respect and pay for medicine is not there like it was 30 years ago.”
Read more: UHD consultants say colleagues are 'retiring early or moving abroad'
Dr Manners said better pay would retain staff and make it more attractive for new talent to work for the NHS.
Dr Bushra Herieka, a sexual health consultant of 21 years, said the change he has seen in the NHS during his time is “demoralising”.
He said: “The reason for that is the lack of funding for the NHS and I don’t think the government is treating the NHS as a priority.
“There is not enough investment here to keep it going. All the staff working at the NHS from health care assistants to doctors to consultants are starting to feel the pressure and see it.
“I may be retiring in one or two years, but I am here striking today for the future of the NHS because I don’t want to see this trend continue.”
Meanwhile, Dr Helen Holt, an endocrinologist consultant, said she was striking for not just for doctors but also "nurses, cleaners, kitchen staff, midwives, dieticians, healthcare assistants and everybody else in the NHS".
She said: “We can see that the NHS is struggling because people are leaving as they feel undervalued.
“The NHS is valuable to us all and the public and it is the envy of the world – but it feels like investment has been going down for the past 13 years.
She added people need the NHS now more than ever due to increasing obesity rates, diabetes and a general decline in people’s health.
“These strikes are about staff retention. It's about the future of the NHS and it's about having a more equitable and a healthier society where we don't have this huge health inequality,” she added.
More than 24,000 consultants voted in the British Medical Association (BMA) ballot for industrial action last month, with the vast majority (20,741 or 86 per cent) voting in favour.
The Government has told consultants they will receive a six per cent pay rise but the BMA has called this “derisory” and said doctors have seen real-term take-home pay fall by more than a third over the last 14 years.
According to the BMA, consultants on a 2003 contract earn a starting salary of £88,364 in basic pay, rising to £119,133 after around 19 years.
A spokesman for University Hospitals Dorset said “Regrettably, a number of appointments and procedures have been postponed on Thursday and tomorrowto help keep our patients safe.
“We are asking the public to help us by choosing the right service for their needs, which may include pharmacists, NHS 111 or GPs.
“People with serious, life-threatening conditions will continue to be seen in our emergency departments.”
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