Junior doctors make up half of medics at King’s Mill Hospital – as strike takes place across England

This week, junior doctors are striking over poor pay and working conditions – with the British Medical Association, a union for medical professionals, saying junior doctors have suffered a 26 per cent real-terms cut to their pay since 2008-09.

Figures from NHS England show there were the equivalent of 294 full-time junior doctors working at SFH as of December – 49.1 per cent of the 599 doctors working at the trust, which runs King's Mill in Sutton, as well as Mansfield Community and Newark hospitals.

There were also the equivalent of 72 full-time junior doctors at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, 30.9 per cent of the 232 doctors working at the trust, which runs sites across the county and further afield, including Millbrook Mental Health Unit at King’s Mill.

Across England there were 66,000 junior doctors working for hospital and community health services as of December 2022, making up 49.9 per cent of all clinicians.

A strike organised by the BMA – which represents about 50,000 junior doctors – is set to last 96 hours, ending on Saturday April 15.

Any doctor below consultant level is referred to as junior, meaning junior doctors encompass doctors just starting in the NHS and those who have been training for many years for specialist positions.

They receive a range of salaries, with Foundation Year 1 doctors, the most junior category, starting on £14.09 an hour, about £29,000 a year.

SFH has 91 such doctors working at the trust at this point, alongside a further 35 second year foundation doctors. Nottinghamshire Healthcare had 71 junior doctors at this point, 30.5 per cent of all doctors working at the organisation.

The number of junior doctors has been increasing across England over the past decade as part of a wider uptick in clinicians working for the NHS.

In December 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, there were the equivalent of 57,000 full-time junior doctors, representing 48.7 per cent of the workforce.

SFH had 227 junior doctors at this point, or 47.6 per cent of all doctors working at the organisation.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the walkouts have “clearly been timed to have an impact on patients”, given increased pressures on the health service after the Easter break.

He said: “We recognise junior doctors have been under significant pressure, particularly from the pandemic, and we want to work with them to find a fair and reasonable settlement.”

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England national medical director, said the strike action – which began at 7am and will continue until Saturday morning – will cause “unparalleled” upheaval and will be the “most disruptive in NHS history”.

Dr Sumi Manirajan, deputy co-chairwoman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, told Sky News: “I can’t guarantee no lives will be put at risk, but what I can guarantee is 500 patients are dying (every week) waiting for care at the moment.”

She said the union will guarantee emergency and essential care over the strike period, adding “lives are being put at risk every single week” as things stand.