About 3000 (sorry not 300) junior doctors are on strike again. This strike began Tuesday morning and will finish on Friday morning. Listen to Oct 4 2016 to hear about the first strike. These doctors want the same things as they did in October. They say they are working such long hours that they cannot make safe decisions for their patients. They are too tired.
Older doctors remember when they were junior doctors and some of them probably think, “Well I did it when I was a junior doctor so what’s the problem?” The problem might be that these days, hospitals are busier places than they used to be. Or it might be that attitudes to work have changed and more people want a balance between their work and their personal life. In New Zealand, it is common to talk about a work-life balance. One of the complaints from junior doctors is that they don’t get enough weekends free to enjoy time with their children.
On the other hand, anyone who decides to be a doctor knows that this will probably mean doing shift work in hospitals. Hospitals have to be available for patients 24/7 which means 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
It’s also true that there is a limited amount of money from the government for health services. If junior doctors work shorter hours, this will mean that more doctors will be needed at a greater cost.
The union representatives are meeting with the District Health Board representatives to see if there can be a compromise.
Vocabulary
• union – an organization of workers from the same kind of job
• representative – a person who can speak for the union or the District Health Board, an agent
• compromise – a half way agreement, each side can win some points