NHS on life support as strikes continue

An estimated 100,000 vacancies in the NHS are currently unfilled, according to a November analysis by the healthcare charity, the King's Fund.

"Although the workforce has been growing, demand for the service has been growing faster, and the health service has not been able to recruit and retain sufficient staff to shrink the number of vacancies," it said.

It all then spirals into a "vicious cycle", Liu said. Rotas have been shrunk to reduce the number of doctors, without reducing the workload. Resident doctors scramble to cover absences, patients keep calling, consultants check in, and the whole grind repeats, sometimes, it even gets worse. The process wears down resident doctors' psychological and social lives until some burn out, forcing colleagues to step in and take more strain.

"That is why they said enough is enough. We need to gather attention and let people know this cannot be carried on," he said.

Due to strikes, many elective operations, outpatient appointments, and tests will need to be canceled, extending the already lengthy waiting lists, but the back-to-back actions also "demoralize the workforce", as circular bargaining erodes goodwill, and trust between doctors and the government, Liu said.

"When people strike, they don't get paid," Liu said. "They are not doing something they actually want to do, which is looking after patients and getting trained … A lot of them (already) don't get trained because of rota gaps.

"What we've talked about takes a little bit of time to appreciate. How — as a government, as a member of society — we are going to look after the next generation of doctors who are going to look after you and me. How would you like them to be treated … so that they feel that they are rewarded, secure, valued, so that they love their jobs?

"A happy doctor will do a happy job. A stressed, depressed, undervalued, and overworked doctor will make mistakes. And as a result, patients and society suffer."