Junior doctors at Great Western Hospital have walked out to raise awareness of their poor pay and struggle to retain staff.

Young medics formed a picket line at the approach to GWH and received honks of support from passing drivers.

Wages staying roughly the same while inflation rose has led to the healthcare staff receiving 26 per cent less pay for the same work than they did in 2008.

This has prompted many medical experts to quit - but the vacancies are not being filled, creating a more stressful work environment for the remaining employees and impacting the quality of patient care.

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Registrar Alex Tuck has been practising medicine for six years. He explained how the wages issue has created a vicious cycle for him and his colleagues.

The 30-year-old said: “The lack of pay is driving people out - you earn more in Ireland, Australia, and at pharmaceutical companies. Then, when you lose staff, you have more horrendous shifts, you’re knackered and your personal life starts to suffer, so people get burned out, then they leave.

“As a result, patient experience is getting worse because everyone's under a squeeze and there is constant brain drain.

"Every shift has at least one gap in every grade of staff. On some days, up to a quarter of the staff is just not there.

"We had a lot of really bad days during the pandemic, and this winter was awful.

"When apologising to patients, you do start to think 'I would not want to have my relatives going through this'.

"If you feel valued, it makes the bad days easier."

 

This industrial action is part of a nationwide effort from the British Medical Association involving tens of thousands of junior doctors which began at 7am on March 13 and ends at 7am on Friday.

They are calling for a 35 per cent pay rise, which the government argues is unaffordable.

Some planned procedures at the hospital have been postponed. Patients will be contacted directly if their appointment is affected.

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Alex added: "I've been very surprised by the amount of support the public has shown when it's such a hard time for everyone.

“Patients in Swindon are so understanding of the situation and grateful for what we can do, the staff do an amazing job, and senior management really try to fill the gaps.

"We're standing up to see if we can get a better deal from the government so our health service doesn't suffer death by a thousand cuts.

"We hope the strike action makes a difference and that we can come to an agreement because I don't want to do this again, I want to work, I like my job, but the situation is tough."

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To ease demand, the hospital has advised poorly people to call 111 or visit 111.nhs.uk to find the most appropriate place to meet their healthcare needs, and to only use 999 if it is a life-threatening emergency.

A GWH spokesman said: "We may not know the full impact of the industrial action until the days of the strike, so there is a possibility we will need to cancel appointments on the day.

"If you have not been contacted, you should attend your appointment as normal.

"Regardless of any strike action taking place, it is really important that patients who need urgent medical care continue to come forward as normal, especially in emergency and life-threatening cases - when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk."

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