JUNIOR DOCS PAY ROW: I need to take on extra shifts just to get by

Medic's plea as union members begin voting on possible strike

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

A JUNIOR doctor has demanded a better pay deal for young medics as he and his colleagues prepare for a ballot on strike action.

Hugh Pearson saves lives every day at a hospital but can't afford to rent a home of his own.

And although he often works in excess of 60 hours a week, he has to take on extra locum shifts to pay for expensive compulsory courses and exams.

Today, junior members of doctors' union the British Medical Association (BMA) will begin to vote in a ballot for strike action.

They are demanding an aboveinflation rise and restoration of pay to 2008 levels within five years, as they claim there has been a real-terms pay cut of 23.5 per cent since then.