Junior doctors in England are currently being balloted on whether to proceed with a 72hr strike in March in pursuit of a 30 per cent pay rise. The ballot comes amid significant inflationary pressures throughout the economy and upon the NHS. Dissatisfaction amongst many in the medical profession over pay and working conditions is genuine and long-felt. But there is another factor which explains the unusually high pay claim and the level of disruption proposed.

This report examines of a cache of hundreds of documents and posts, finding that the activities of self-proclaimed “entryists” – many of whom now represent the British Medical Association on its regional and national Junior Doctor’s Committees and its governing UK Council have pushed an increasingly partisan and radical agenda built upon dubious claims over pay. It explores the emergence, strategy and contents of these claims, but also proposes a series of solutions to tackle issues with working conditions – a more salient issue for the majority of junior doctors.

Recommendations include the introduction of an NHS Staff Charter to ‘get the basics right’; a fund to meet postgraduate medical examination costs and measures to ensure that the representation of junior doctors in deliberations about rota and service design is substantially improved across the NHS.