Despite being a doctor even I'm not sure about striking

At the dawn of the first of five strike days yesterday, junior doctors stood at the picket lines in bright orange coats - flames of protest flickering against a dispute grown cold.

- HOLLY TARN

One placard captured the sentiment: “Why is my assistant paid more than me? Doctors £38k, physician assistants £45k - make it make sense.” The message is clear: current conditions are no longer sustainable.

But beneath the buzz of the picket lines lies an uncomfortable truth: not all doctors, perhaps not even most, align with the British Medical Association on the strikes.

A recent Savanta survey, published in The Times, found that 49 per cent of junior doctors think the strikes should be called off while only 33 per cent believe they should go ahead. In the spirit of feeling torn, I stand with the 19 per cent who aren’t sure. (It’s worth noting that the survey included just 200 respondents, a sample size the British Medical Association has criticised as too small to be reliable).

The survey doesn’t outline the reasons for a changing tide, but let me speculate. For many of us (myself included, as a newly qualified junior doctor) pay isn’t the root of the problem.

Like a consultant tracing symptoms back to their root cause, we need to step back and ask what truly lies behind the unrest. And though this might not fit neatly with what the British Medical Association wants to say, I don’t think it should focus on pay.

What’s more important is the familiar story of feeling undervalued and disposable, coupled with a deep frustration at working within a system that is failing not only us, but our patients. At its heart, we want to save the NHS.