Junior doctors in England have launched a four-day strike due to a dispute over pay, leading to an estimated 250,000 appointments and operations being cancelled.
From 7am until Saturday morning, doctors will picket outside hospitals, making this the longest industrial action in the health service since nurses, ambulance crews and other health workers went on strike last year.
NHS managers have warned that patient care is at risk due to the stoppage by members of the British Medical Association (BMA), with the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, Matthew Taylor, stating that the likely impact of the strike is “heartbreaking”.
He has called on both sides to end their “battle of rhetoric”.
Taylor has also told the BBC that this strike will be more disruptive than the 72-hour stoppages by NHS staff last month, which led to 175,000 cancelled appointments.
The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, has criticized the prime minister for not intervening, stating that “patients are crying out for leadership but instead they are getting weakness”.
Advertisements To Highlight Junior Doctors Payment
The BMA launched new advertisements to highlight the pay of junior doctors in England for their roles in surgical procedures. The union claims that junior doctors’ pay has fallen by 26% in real terms over the past 15 years.
The advertisements feature three doctors with 10, seven, and one year’s experience in an operating theatre, where they are performing an appendix removal surgery. The BMA claims that the doctors performing the surgery would receive a total of £66.55 for the 60-minute procedure.
Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, the BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, have stated that it is “appalling” that the government feels that paying three junior doctors as little as £66.55 between them for such highly skilled and potentially life-saving work is justified.
Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, has called the strikes “extremely disappointing” and stated that the BMA’s demand for a 35% pay rise is unreasonable, as it would result in some junior doctors receiving a pay rise of more than £20,000.
He has urged people to attend appointments unless told otherwise by the NHS, to continue to call 999 in a life-threatening emergency and to use NHS 111 online services for non-urgent health needs.
