Doctors say strikes let them spend time with their friends
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MILITANT junior doctors boast that strikes which crippled NHS services across Britain allowed them to spend time hanging out with mates. Dr Emma Runswick said 18-months of industrial action gave them “respite” from being overworked. The Deputy Chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) council said: “Doctors have learnt that strike action is both respite from overwork - an opportunity to be with friends the rota usually forces separation from - and an effective tool to win change.”.
![[Dr Emma Runswick Deputy Chair of BMA]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/www-bma-org-uk-news-961518087.jpg?strip=all&w=505)
She also threatened to strike for more pay – despite the new Labour government handing them a whopping 22 per cent pay rise. Junior docs were also given a new title of “resident doctors”. “We are raring for action if governments do not continue a path to pay restoration,” Dr Runswick wrote in a report on strikes this month.
![[Junior doctors gather to protest outside Downing Street in August 2023]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2023-junior-doctors-receive-basic-837389089.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Shadow Health Secretary Ed Argar said: “The resident doctor strikes were deeply damaging to our health service, and left thousands of patients in the lurch. "So this commentary will be seen by many as another slap in the face of the public, as well as raise real concerns for the prospect of future strikes.
![[A doctor holds a message for former Health Secretary Steve Barclay]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/doctor-holds-message-health-secretary-837389159.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
"But this is a mess of Labour's making. When they handed over an inflation busting 22 per cent with no strings attached they made it clear that striking pays, and it seems they are about to learn their lesson.”. NHS strikes cost the taxpayer almost £1.7 billion and over 1.5 million appointments were cancelled.
![[Junior doctors and members of the British Medical Association (BMA) on the picket line outside Leicester Royal Infirmary, 2023.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/picket-line-outside-leicester-royal-867642308.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
