The more junior doctors have tried to justify their three-day withdrawal of labour over the past week, the more damage, or so it seems to me, they have done to their cause – whatever that cause may be. On the final day of their strike – in pursuit of a 35 per cent pay rise – reports are piling up of cancelled operations, postponed cancer treatments and more people pushed towards the private health sector.
Some of the striking doctors’ work is apparently being covered by consultants – to which I, and no doubt many others, would say: bring it on. For years, consultants have delegated far too much of their responsibility to junior doctors, including plenty of after-hours and weekend work. So if patients get to see more senior doctors, well, that would not be such a bad result, would it?
It might even set a trend, if downing tools becomes a habit for the junior doctors, as their frustration with their paymasters deepens.
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