Comment: Doctors at serious risk of losing public goodwill

When asked which professions people trust the most, doctors are consistently ranked among the highest.

It is a reputation which has been hard earned, and people are, in the main, grateful for the work that they do.

However, with their latest industrial action, the striking hospital doctors are putting this reputation in serious jeopardy. While many baulked at the size of their pay demands, there was some sympathy when they went on strike in 2024. The new government responded by rewarding them with a generous 22 per cent pay rise. Ministers may now rue that decision as the doctors return for more, this time asking for an extra 29 per cent.

The BMA’s claim that this is necessary to restore parity with their ‘real terms’ pay packets in 2008 holds little water. A lot has happened over the past 18 years, not least the banking crisis, the coronavirus outbreak, the war in Ukraine, and now the crisis in the Gulf. Millions of people are worse off in real terms than they were in 2008, but know better than demand 29 per cent extra. Asking these people on a fraction of a doctor’s salary to pay more tax so they can restore real-terms parity with an arbitrary date is tin-eared to say the least.

A poll says 55 per cent of the public are opposed to the latest strike, a figure we expect to rise considerably the longer the dispute continues. Doctors should reflect that they are paid more than most, have recently enjoyed a huge pay rise, and still enjoy the respect of the public.

A prolonged strike will put the latter in great danger.