176 different NHS trusts across England, Wales and Northern Ireland have voted to take strike action.
Doctors publically declared their support after nurses voted for strike action last week.
A statement released by the British Medical Association (BMA) reiterates that medical colleagues offer “support and solidarity” to nursing staff following the news.
Alongside other healthcare professionals, “nurses have borne the brunt of an understaffed and under-resourced health service”, they said in a public statement.
Last week the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced that 176 different NHS trusts across England, Wales and Northern Ireland had voted to take strike action. A full list of NHS employers who have voted to strike available here.
The most experienced frontline nurses are around £10,000 worse off a year now than in 2008.
Junior doctors and midwives could be the next to vote for industrial action.
Support and solidarity.
Dr Emma Runswick, deputy chair of BMA council, said: “Doctors offer our support and solidarity to nursing colleagues following this historic ballot for industrial action. Like us, nurses are showing that they have had enough of being undervalued by this Government.
“Along with other frontline healthcare workers, nurses have borne the brunt of an understaffed and under-resourced health service, where despite their best efforts and working at their absolute limits, healthcare staff are too often unable to provide patients with the care they need.
Dr Runswick warned, “This Government has responded by repeatedly cutting their pay in real terms and causing genuine hardship for many.
“It is still within the Government’s gift to pay healthcare staff fairly for the vital, often lifesaving work that they do.
“We urge Government to listen to the concerns of frontline health staff and deliver the investment that the NHS and its workforce so desperately need.
