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Richard Madeley blasted as an ’embarrassment’ after junior doctors claim-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro
Viewers are seething.
Richard Madeley has come under fire from seething viewers (Picture: ITV)
Richard Madeley has been blasted by Good Morning Britain viewers after branding junior doctors ‘apprentices’.
The former This Morning host, 67, regularly sparks outrage over his comments on the daytime programme, and Wednesday’s show was no different.
During a conversation with co-host Susanna Reid and journalist Ash Sarkar, Madeley was caught calling junior doctors ‘apprentices’.
The comment came during a conversation about the ongoing strikes by junior doctors, who have staged a series of walk-outs from 7am on Wednesday, January 3 until Tuesday, January 9.
Madeley had said: ‘What about the point that a lot of people make, which is that junior doctors are in effect apprentices, and lots of juniors in professions don’t get paid very much but over the horizon there are big bucks on offer.’
‘Just want to point out a fact that they’re not apprentices, they’re fully qualified,’ Sarkar hit back, with Reid chiming in: ‘And they’re not doctors in training as they were named by the health secretary last week.
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‘They’re fully qualified doctors!’
‘Those descriptions don’t apply to doctors, these are doctors, properly qualified doctors, who just happen to not be consultants,’ Reid added.
But viewers were still fuming over Madeley’s comment.
‘Junior Doctors are not apprentices as beyond ignorant Richard Madeley refers to them. They are fully qualified,’ fuming X user Matthew Payne wrote.
‘Richard Madeley calls doctors apprentices, how much longer do we have to keep watching this apprentice presenter.’ @9209Ant hit out.
Janey M urged for him to be sacked, writing: ‘Richard Madeley is an embarrassment – calling junior doctors apprentices. #gmb get rid.’
‘@GMB Does Richard Madeley legitimately think that “Junior Doctors” are apprentices? That’s a big mischaracterisation!’ Lemmy316 said.
Junior doctors are striking for six days, the longest strike in NHS history, in a major escalation in the dispute between unions and the government over pay.
Who are junior doctors?
The term ‘junior doctor’ is used to refer to all doctors who are in training, after they qualify as a medical practitioner.
This includes people who are straight out of medical school but also includes doctors who have been working in the NHS for almost a decade.
Doctors can be junior doctors for up to 20 years, or even longer if they’re working towards research for a higher degree.
Junior doctors make up about half of the medical workforce in England.
In summer 2023, the Government gave junior doctors in England an average rise of 8.8%, but medics said the increase was not enough to address pay erosion doctors had seen over the last 15 years.
It seemed as though the dispute may come to a close when junior doctors and the Government entered talks in late 2023, however, after five weeks of intense negotiations, the talks broke down and the BMA announced strike dates for December and January.
The co-chair of the BMA’s junior doctors committee said today that strike action is the ‘only thing’ the Government listens to.
Speaking from a picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London, Dr Robert Laurenson said there was ‘no good time to strike’, but added that ‘we need to recognise that we have a massive workforce crisis’.
Junior doctors are striking for six days, the longest strike in NHS history (Picture: PA)
The strike is a major escalation in the dispute between unions and the government over pay. (Picture: PA)
Dr Laurenson said the strikes were necessary because they are ‘the only thing that the Government understands with regards to being able to work with a workforce.’
He told the PA news agency: ‘The only reason the Government will even entertain talks with us is because we have strike action.’
Dr Laurenson said the BMA was ‘happy to negotiate anytime, anywhere.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.
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