{"id":356559,"date":"2025-12-18T18:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/356559\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T18:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:03:11","slug":"thursday-briefing-how-pay-erosion-and-job-shortages-pushed-doctors-to-strike-again-amid-winter-flu-surge-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/356559\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday briefing: How pay erosion and job shortages pushed doctors to strike again amid winter flu surge | NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. The \u201cmoment of crisis\u201d for the NHS that led Keir Starmer to warn resident doctors<\/a> not to strike this week is already upon us as a winter flu epidemic sweeps the country<\/a>, having started weeks earlier than usual.<\/p>\n

Yet, despite the warnings, Tuesday\u2019s last ditch talks between the government and the British Medical Association, representing 55,000 of 70,000 resident doctors in England, failed to reach agreement over pay and jobs.<\/p>\n

Early on Wednesday morning, thousands of resident, formerly known as junior, doctors went on strike, after voting overwhelmingly to do so. The five day action will be the 14th strike since 2023.<\/p>\n

Fears within the NHS that, short of dramatic intervention, the deadlocked dispute could drag on through 2026 has led to NHS bosses urging the two parties<\/a> to agree to independent mediation in order to bridge the gap between them.<\/p>\n

Both sides say that patients are suffering as a result of the other side. Starmer warned the strikes were \u201creckless\u201d<\/a> and placed patients and the NHS in \u201cgrave danger\u201d. The BMA say, in some regions, some life-saving treatment is restricted to office hours due to a dearth of specialists, while A&E doctors are being turned away due to a lack of training places in emergency medicine.<\/p>\n

For today\u2019s newsletter, I spoke to Denis Campbell, the Guardian\u2019s health policy editor, to understand what\u2019s really going on. First, the headlines.<\/p>\n

Five big stories<\/p>\n

UK news | Police in London and Manchester have pledged a further crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations<\/a> on anyone chanting the words \u201cglobalise the intifada\u201d or holding a placard with the phrase on it.<\/p>\n

Trade policy | Ministers and senior MPs have warned that the UK\u2019s agreements with Donald Trump are \u201cbuilt on sand\u201d<\/a> after the Guardian established that the deal to avoid drug tariffs has no underlying text beyond limited headline terms.<\/p>\n

Ukraine | The UK has given its final warning to Roman Abramovich<\/a> to release \u00a32.5bn from his sale of Chelsea FC to give to Ukraine, telling the billionaire to release the funds or face court action.<\/p>\n

US news | Nick Reiner, who has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents<\/a>, acclaimed actor and director Rob Reiner<\/a> and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, made his first appearance in court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Sextortion | The parents of a 16-year-old who took his own life after he fell victim to a sextortion gang on Instagram are suing Meta<\/a> for the alleged wrongful death of their son, in the first UK case of its kind.<\/p>\n

In depth: \u200b\u200b\u200b\u2018They intend to keep on striking until they get the money they want\u2019Thousands of doctors have been turned away from Internal Medicine training posts. Photograph: Finnbarr Webster\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The dispute has been rumbling on for 33 months now, says Denis, but it has ramped up in recent days into an \u201cincreasingly bitter and public\u201d battle with Starmer and Streeting on one side and Dr Jack Fletcher, the chair of the BMA resident doctors committee on the other.<\/p>\n

There are two main issues in play. First, the resident doctors, who Denis describes as the \u201cworkhorses of the NHS\u201d, have had a pay rise of 28.9% over the past three years, but they argue that their pay is worse now, in real terms, than it was in 2008\/2009, due to austerity and multiple below inflation pay rises.<\/p>\n

Another element to the dispute has been introduced recently. Now it\u2019s also about jobs, Denis says, following a \u201cparticular problem which has emerged in the last couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor young, early career doctors looking to progress their careers by moving into specialist training, as a surgeon, an A&E doctor, a psychiatrist, whatever it might be, the opportunities to do so are far fewer than the number of doctors looking to move their careers on.\u201d This has been an established career path for generations.<\/p>\n

The issue has created a \u201creally serious bottleneck\u201d of many thousands of doctors who cannot progress their careers, he said, with some doctors left \u201cliterally unemployed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis, understandably, is a source of huge frustration.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, it is estimated that nearly 40,000 doctors<\/a> will apply for about 10,000 specialty training places which the BMA\u2019s Jack Fletcher warns is causing many doctors to leave the NHS altogether.<\/p>\n

Are the doctors asking for too much?<\/p>\n

Resident doctors are among public sector workers across the UK who have suffered a \u201cserious erosion\u201d in real terms value of their pay since 2008\/9, due to austerity measures introduced by Conservative governments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to understand why those doctors are feeling very frustrated\u201d, says Denis, at a time when inflation has been rampant, the affordability gap for people trying to buy a home has widened and they are seeing a massive cost of living pressure that everyone faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he notes, they are the only group of public sector workers who are demanding, holding out for and repeatedly striking for pay restoration.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers aren\u2019t doing that. Prison officers aren\u2019t doing that. Social workers aren\u2019t doing that. Bin men aren\u2019t doing that. Firefighters aren\u2019t doing that, GPs and consultant doctors aren\u2019t doing that either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps unsurprisingly, public support for the pay and jobs dispute has dwindled. The latest YouGov poll<\/a> shows a significant majority, 58%, of the public thinks the doctors strikes are wrong and only 33% believed they are right.<\/p>\n

What is Wes Streeting\u2019s role in all this?<\/p>\n

When Streeting became health secretary, he very quickly gave resident doctors 22.3% extra pay over two years, believing he had fixed the problem, according to Denis. But the BMA was set on a larger sum.<\/p>\n

The trouble for the health secretary is there is no easy lever to pull to resolve the dispute, says Denis.<\/p>\n

Streeting has attempted to solve the jobs issue by pledging to create more training places \u2013 which he has raised from 1000, to 2000 to 4000, in recent weeks to try to break the deadlock. The latest offer, while creating training places, would not have increased their pay this current financial year. Resident doctors, who make up about half of all NHS doctors, overwhelmingly rejected the offer<\/a> in a BMA survey last week, with 83% voting against it, on a 65% turnout.<\/p>\n

NHS finances are \u201cvery tight\u201d particularly this year when NHS England was initially forecast to end up with a deficit with an overspend of \u00a36.6bn, with serious steps taken to reduce that to a more manageable figure.<\/p>\n

Rachel Reeves could always ease her fiscal rules and decide to free up money for the NHS \u2013 but Streeting is reluctant to give a further big pay rise to resident doctors, especially because of the risk of prompting other public sector workers to demand the same.<\/p>\n

How has the flu crisis played out in the dispute?<\/p>\n

Denis is quite keen to emphasise that the flu crisis happening in hospitals in England right now is a matter of fact: with more people seriously unwell because of the flu.<\/p>\n

However, he does believe that the health secretary in particular and also the prime minister have sought to \u201cweaponise\u201d the earlier than usual winter flu crisis as part of their public campaign to try to isolate resident doctors and get them to agree to the latest government offer.<\/p>\n

Fletcher has criticised the health secretary\u2019s rhetoric<\/a> in recent weeks. \u201cThe very professionals whose union he accused of \u201cjuvenile delinquency<\/a>\u201d will be holding overstretched services together at the peak of this flu season.\u201d Fletcher said in his comment piece on Monday that resident doctors will be \u201ccaring for patients\u201d over Christmas. On Wednesday, he said it was \u201cwell past the time\u201d for ministers to come up with a long term plan on pay and jobs and that doctors going on strike were \u201cmaking clear that they are willing to stand up for their profession against a totally avoidable jobs crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n

How long is this likely to drag on?<\/p>\n

After nearly three years Denis still sees no end in sight for the ongoing crisis. The BMA\u2019s legal mandate to strike runs out on the 6 January but it is balloting to seek a fresh legal mandate to strike for a further six months. If they get a yes vote they intend to embark on more strikes in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey intend to keep on striking until they get the money they want,\u201d says Denis. Increasingly in the NHS, senior people who run big hospitals, are \u201creally worried that this is just going to drag on and on\u201d through 2026 unless something dramatic pops up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a normal industrial dispute\u201d says Denis. \u201cThere is no compromise that I can see available. I wish it were different, for the sake of the public as patients, for the sake of the NHS which picks up the pieces, and just for sake of the public good.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s behind you! Well 2025 nearly is, and December isn\u2019t December without a trip to a pantomime. Georgie Wyatt has some tales of panto mishap<\/a> direct from the (pantomime) horse\u2019s mouth. Martin<\/p>\n

I was humoured by Stuart Heritage\u2019s story<\/a> on Susan Boyle, of Britain\u2019s Got Talent, having the most unexpected celebrity superfan \u2013 actor Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet. Sundus Abdi, newsletters team<\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t many sports where I would actually have to put weight on in order to have a fighting chance, but sumo is one of them. Robyn Vinter explores<\/a> its growing popularity in the UK. Martin<\/p>\n

I enjoyed this story<\/a> about Jack Chadwick rescuing an injured pigeon and discovering a hidden network of people devoted to caring for Manchester\u2019s birds. Sundus<\/p>\n

Toni Basil is best known in the UK for smash hit Mickey, but, now 82, there is so much more to her life than that, as Steve Rose discovers<\/a> in an interview that name checks Bowie, Sinatra, Elvis and more. Martin<\/p>\n

SportAlex Carey\u2019s controversial reprieve on the first day of the third Ashes Test. An error was admitted by the Snicko operator. Photograph: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

Cricket | England are considering a formal complaint over the Snicko \u00adtechnology<\/a> being used in this Ashes series after Alex Carey received a lifeline en route to a telling century on the opening day of the third Test.<\/p>\n

Football | The Macclesfield forward Ethan McLeod has died in a car accident<\/a>. The 21-year-old was driving back from the club\u2019s National League North match against Bedford on Tuesday night when the incident occurred on the M1.<\/p>\n

Boxing | Undefeated world super middleweight champion Terence Crawford announced his retirement from boxing<\/a>, hanging up his gloves three months after a career-defining victory over Canelo \u00c1lvarez.<\/p>\n

The front pagesGuardian front page 18 Dec Photograph: Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia targeting European finance bosses and politicians over assets,\u201d is the splash on the Guardian on Thursday. \u201cUK peacekeepers getting ready to deploy to Ukraine,\u201d says the i paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cNHS RACE AGAINST TIME,\u201d says the Mirror. \u201cStand up to the unions …ban doctors strike,\u201d is the lead story at the Express. \u201cBudget strikes again,\u201d is the highlight at the Sun. \u201c\u00a36BN COST OF STARMER\u2019S NEW BID TO SUCK UP TO BRUSSELS,\u201d writes the Mail, while the Telegraph runs with: \u201c\u00a38 billion cost of EU student exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice vow to stamp out chants for \u2018intifada\u2019\u201d is the splash at the Times. \u201cStarmer in \u00a32.5bn Chelsea transfer demand,\u201d says the Metro. Finally the FT with: \u201cWarner Bros board scorns \u2018illusory\u2019 bid by Paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today in FocusChile\u2019s president-elect, the far-right Jose Antonio Kast, delivers a speech after winning the second round of the presidential elections in Santiago, Chile, 14 December 2025. Photograph: Elvis Gonzalez\/EPA<\/p>\n

The Pinochet fan with a Nazi dad: meet Chile\u2019s next president<\/p>\n

Chile\u2019s next president Jos\u00e9 Antonio Kast was once way out on Chile\u2019s political fringes \u2013 considered too extreme, too rightwing, and far too conservative on issues such as contraception and abortion. Yet on Sunday, Kast won by a landslide. Santiago-based journalist John Bartlett charts his rise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cartoon of the day | Ben JenningsBen Jennings on Donald Trump suing the BBC Illustration: Ben Jennings\/The GuardianThe Upside<\/p>\n

A bit of good news to remind you that the world\u2019s not all bad<\/p>\n

\u2018He was encouraging, but never gave us instructions\u2019 \u2026 from left: Amelia Gentleman, her sister Tabby and father David in 1977. Photograph: Courtesy of Amelia Gentleman<\/p>\n

Growing up, Amelia Gentleman\u2019s father, the artist David Gentleman, rarely gave advice. If his children wanted to draw, he handed them pencils and left them to it. Now at 95, after an eight-decade career spanning book covers, murals, stamps and protest art, he has distilled what he has learned into a book of lessons for young artists \u2013 a move that surprised even his family.<\/p>\n

Amelia reflects<\/a> on the principles she absorbed simply by watching him work: build a life around what you love, don\u2019t wait for inspiration, stay curious and organised, and find beauty in the overlooked. Above all, she writes, he taught her to keep experimenting and not be disheartened by mistakes \u2013 lessons that extend far beyond art.<\/p>\n

Sign up here<\/a> for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday<\/p>\n

Bored at work?<\/p>\n

And finally, the Guardian\u2019s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning. The \u201cmoment of crisis\u201d for the NHS that led Keir Starmer to warn resident doctors not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-356559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}