TENS of thousands of hospital doctors defiantly walked out on strike today as the government stubbornly rejected appeals to negotiate over pay.

On picket lines across England medics told how they were driven to use food banks, rely on parents for financial help and voiced their determination to fight on, with some receiving a wage of only £14 an hour.

Their union the British Medical Association (BMA) has asked for a pay rise of 35 per cent to take their wages back to 2008 levels.

Dr Dominic Fairbrass, 23, who picketed outside Hull Royal Infirmary in East Yorkshire, qualified eight months ago.

He told the Morning Star his working life in Hull Royal is “busy, challenging and under-resourced” and “as a result, you’re not always able to provide the standards of care that patients deserve.”

Dr Fairbrass said the job was “something that people choose to do because they care about people and they want to help people.

“But due to underfunding and under-resourcing of the NHS, hospitals struggle to maintain staffing levels, which stretches the capacity of those who are working.”

The NHS is short of 140,000 staff, including 47,000 nurses, and unions say low pay is the main cause as thousands more nurses, doctors and other staff quit every year.

Dr Fairbrass said: “The government is unwilling to pay wages that keep pace with inflation. 

“I don’t know what the inner motivation of the government might be — this industrial action is solely about pay restoration for junior doctors.

“However, I think as an individual many people have concerns about privatisation of the NHS and the general direction we are going in.”

Dr Fairbrass told the Morning Star about his own financial situation.

“My basic hourly wage is £14.09 an hour,” he said. “I receive an enhancement for night and weekends. 

"My take-home pay after tax, National Insurance and student loans is £2,200 a month: that’s for a 48-hour week including nights and weekends.”

He said the public’s response to the strike was “generally positive,” but said: “It’s true that some members of the public feel some anger towards junior doctors who are striking. 

"I don’t let this upset me because it’s a consequence of the government failing to maintain a good standard of healthcare.”

In London, Dr Katrina Forsyth, 29, was on the picket line after finishing her night shift at St Thomas’ Hospital.

She said she relies on family and her partner to be able to afford to keep working in London.

Dr Forsyth said she often has to tell three or four families a day that a relative has died and she sometimes goes home and cries at the end of a shift.

“It’s becoming less safe for patients,” she said.

At Whipps Cross hospital in East London, trainee anaesthetist Ada Zembrzycka, 27, said her colleagues use food banks to stay above the breadline.

“If the pay cuts continue, I will not only struggle to pay for my exams but for groceries and my Tube tickets,” she said.

“Rent is increasingly going up and I can’t keep up.

“Junior doctors have received a [real-terms] 26 per cent pay cut over the last 15 years yet we are not worth a quarter less than our colleagues were in 2008.”

Dr Emma Runswick, deputy chairwoman of the BMA Council, said: “We are asking for reversal of real-terms pay cuts.

“People are leaving the health service for better terms and conditions, better pay abroad. My colleagues are frequently going to Australia, New Zealand, Ireland,” she said.

With no sign that the government will negotiate, the strike will continue until Saturday morning.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “It is extremely disappointing the BMA has called strike action for four consecutive days.

“Not only will the walkouts risk patient safety but they have also been timed to maximise disruption after the Easter break.

“I hoped to begin formal pay negotiations with the BMA last month but its demand for a 35 per cent pay rise is unreasonable.”

But Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, said: “We’ve made it clear, we’re willing to negotiate, we need to have an open dialogue —which the government is refusing to do.”

He urged the Health Secretary to come to the table.