Junior doctors have joked new strike dates announced over the Christmas break will extend their festive holiday. In a leaked WhatsApp exchange, the unnamed doctors share laughing emoji faces and joke about using the industrial action as an excuse to get more time off over Christmas.
Accompanying their message with a money bag emoji, another replied: “Yes. Strike rates.” Another simply penned: “Holiday” with a laughing emoji face.
Responding to the messages one of the junior doctors’ colleagues accused their own co-workers of “trying to cause chaos”. They told the Daily Express: “Junior doctors strike… also known as extra unpaid leave to extend a Christmas break.
“They’re about maximum disruption with minimal personal inconvenience. The narrative that there’s no ‘harder decision’ for a doctor than striking is nonsense.
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“People love it. From what I see people are more bothered about extra time off than lost money on the whole. At least be intelligent enough not to say it in public.
“They can’t expect a deal. Regardless of what they do The BMA saying ‘no credible offer’ is meaningless if they only think 35 percent is credible. They are just trying to cause chaos.”
The strikes, planned for three days from 7.00am on December 20 and six days from 7.00am on January 3, were described by Health Secretary Victoria Atkins as “disappointing”. She said: “The new strikes will result in more disruption for patients and extra pressure on NHS services and staff as we enter a busy winter period, risking patient safety.”
Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors committee, said: “We have been clear from the outset of these talks that we needed to move at pace – and if we did not have a credible offer, we would be forced to call strikes.
“After five weeks of intense talks, the government was unable to present a credible offer on pay by the deadline. “Instead, we were offered an additional three percent, unevenly spread across doctors’ grades, which would still amount to pay cuts for many doctors this year.”
Sir Julian Hartley, of NHS Providers, which represents health managers, said: “This is the outcome that NHS leaders were dreading.”
It comes after the Daily Express revealed junior doctors were planning a party on the same day operations were cancelled last summer.
