Junior doctors’ pay demands aren’t reasonable

Is a 35 per cent pay rise reasonable? That’s the question which, rightly or wrongly, is at the heart of the junior doctors row. 

We are part way through a 96-hour walkout which the NHS national medical director for England warned would cause ‘unparalleled levels of disruption’. Coming straight after the Easter weekend, coinciding with Ramadan and Passover, and lasting longer than any other walkout in NHS history, it has been timed for maximum impact. The health of sick people will be compromised: hernias will rupture, appendixes burst, cancer treatments will be delayed. But it will have subtler effects, too. One letter in yesterday’s Telegraph expressed dismay at the advice to ‘avoid risky behaviour’ during the strikes. The octogenarian author explained that ‘getting out of bed can be risky’, adding that ‘It saddens me that, on top of all the other anxieties that come with age, this avoidable one has now been added to the list.