THOUSANDS of junior doctors in Wales have begun a three-day strike after the government failed to improve its below-inflation pay offer.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said medics being paid as little as £13.65 an hour voted to reject a 5 per cent offer made in August as their real-terms pay has fallen by almost a third since 2008/9.

Dr Oba Babs-Osibodu and Dr Peter Fahey, co-chairs of BMA Cymru Wales’ junior doctors committee, said: “We had hoped the Welsh government had properly understood the strength of feeling amongst junior doctors in Wales.

“Sadly, their inaction over this matter has led us here today, demoralised, frustrated and angry.

“We aren’t asking for a pay rise — we are asking for our pay to be restored in line with inflation back to 2008 levels, when we began to receive pay cuts in real terms.”

They added: “This is not a decision that has been made lightly. No doctor wants to take industrial action, but we have been given no choice.

“Doctors are already voting with their feet and leaving the NHS and we are in a vicious cycle of crippling staffing shortages and worsening patient care.

“Pay needs to be fair and competitive with other healthcare systems across the world to retain and recruit doctors and NHS staff to provide much-needed care.”

Health Minister Eluned Morgan said pay restoration for junior doctors in Wales was impossible without a significant increase in funding from Westminster.

“We are disappointed junior doctors have voted for industrial action, but we understand the strength of feeling among BMA members,” she added.

“We would like to address their pay restoration ambitions, but the pay award offer we have made is at the limits of the finances available to us and reflects the position reached with the other unions.

“We continue to press the UK government to pass on the funding necessary to provide full and fair pay rises for public-sector workers.”

Plaid Cymru’s health and social care spokesman Mabon ap Gwynfor MS said: “The elephant in the room is that Wales is not fairly funded, meaning we’re unable to pay our public-sector workers what they deserve.”

The strike will run from 7am today until 7am on Thursday.

The Welsh NHS Confederation said it was taking place on one of the “most pressurised weeks of the year.”