Resident doctors risk losing the goodwill of the public by taking further strike action
After the Covid pandemic, the medical profession enjoyed public support. I believe that by taking further strike action (report, telegraph.co.uk, July 9), resident doctors risk losing that support. They should accept this year's recommendations and put forward a case for an above-inflation salary increase next year.
In the meantime, the British Medical Association should continue to argue for improvements in working conditions and training, both of which fall substantially below those enjoyed by my generation.
Peter Jones
Marden, Kent
SIR – I am a former nurse, who spent 17 years in health provision at a leading university and medical school.
I am incensed by the junior doctors' new round of pay demands and strikes. They have been educated at great public expense for at least five years, not to mention the ongoing supervision they require as trainee doctors. They will go on to earn decent salaries, with the potential to work part-time as consultants for the NHS, while making thousands of pounds from private practice.
Places for medical school are hugely competitive, and I expect that when being interviewed the majority of the candidates said that their main motivation was to help people. I am equally sure that, if asked, they would have denied even considering going on strike.
Christine Tomblin
Cotgrave, Nottinghamshire
SIR – The most recent study into public perceptions of the Hippocratic Oath in the United Kingdom showed that 70 per cent of universities still insist that medical students swear to act in the best interests of their patients, both before and after they qualify.
How, I wonder, does this sit with the proposed strike action by resident doctors? This will inevitably delay vital operations for patients who, in many cases, have been waiting for some time – in varying degrees of distress – for the procedure to take place.
Taking an oath used to mean something; regrettably it seems that those days are over.
Edward Aitchison
Corbridge, Northumberland
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