25-07-2025
Resident doctors in the West Midlands begin strike over pay
Doctors across the West Midlands have begun five days of strike action over a pay dispute with the of resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, took to the picket line outside Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham on government awarded doctors a 5.4% pay rise for this financial year, but the British Medical Association (BMA), who organised the walkout, said wages were still about 20% lower in real terms than in Ben Cowdry, 25, told the BBC working conditions were "poor" and that doctors regularly had to "stay after hours".
"These life and death decisions we are making, yes they are part of the job but we deserve to be respected and remunerated appropriately for that, and £23 an hour is not an unreasonable ask," he walkout by resident doctors began at 07:00 BST on Friday and is set to last until 07:00 BST on 30 New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton and Cannock Chase Hospital, bosses said there had been 236 appointment cancellations for patients, 110 of which were and senior doctors are covering for resident doctors, who are striking for the 12th time over payDr Brian McCaig, chief medical officer, said they had been through a "number of strikes before" and the hospital needed to prioritise emergency medical care."In terms of planning, we need to first of all prioritise urgent and emergency care and obviously time critical work, such as cancer work and priority operations," he said."Once we've been able to cover those, we then see what activity we can continue with but inevitably, with the industrial action we do need to cancel some activity."One patient, Dave Williams, who was admitted to the hospital with heart problems, said he agreed with the resident doctors strike."They're not paid enough," he told the BBC. "I mean nurses... and doctors, if they all downed tools totally and said right we want more money, the government would have to pay them."
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