Now first-year doctors threaten strike action

YOUNG medics have voted to take industrial action just months after resident doctors walked out in a dispute over pay.

- By Jane Kirby

First-year doctors are said to be unhappy at struggling to find jobs after graduation.

The British Medical Association said its ballot of first-year residents in England saw 97%, or 3,950 voting in favour, on a turnout of 65%

The doctors' union said it provided a “mandate for industrial action alongside the linked dispute over eroded pay”.

The BMA said 34% of the group quizzed in a survey had no substantive employment or regular work from August onwards. This rose to 52% among second-year doctors.