From what I can see, the fact that individual doctors can see their pay go up as they progress and gain experience isn’t in dispute.

The fact that individual doctors can get paid for doing extended or additional hours isn’t in dispute.

The issue is that freezing pay and awarding sequential sub-inflationary pay rises has effectively cut pay for individual roles.

Is someone one year out of medial school in 2023 worth a third less than someone one year out of medial school in 2008?

Ditto the registrar. Ditto the consultant. Ditto many others in the public sector.

That’s the point of dispute here.

And pay review bodies are appointed by the government and work within whatever constraints the treasury has already placed on the budget - and that have also been ignored in the past. Hiding behind the pay review bodies isn’t going to work.

The sooner they come up with a sensible pay package - multiyear deal is going to be needed - the better.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Junior doctors in England are starting their fifth round of strike action with no sign of a breakthrough in their bitter pay dispute with the government.

The doctors’ union, the BMA, made headlines earlier this year when it said pay had fallen so far behind inflation that its members would be better off serving coffee than treating patients.

Dr Kiran Rahim qualified from medical school in 2011 and now treats sick children as a paediatric registrar - one of the most experienced junior doctor grades.

Kiran has taken three years out to have children herself, and is now working part-time while she looks after her young family, meaning her training - and her time as a junior doctor - has been “elongated”.

For an average three-day week, she is paid a basic salary before tax of roughly £3,315 a month - or just under £28 an hour - which is the same rate as a full-time doctor.

If you are reading this page and can’t see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at [email protected].

I’m a bot and I’m open source!