LONDON (AP) – Thousands of doctors in Britain walked off their jobs Wednesday, beginning a six-day strike that is the longest in the history of the state-funded National Health Service.
Employers said tens of thousands of scheduled appointments and surgeries would be canceled during the strike across England and Wales by junior doctors in their first year of career. Doctors, who are the backbone of medical care at hospitals and clinics, will be off work until 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Senior doctors and other medical personnel will need to be drafted to cover emergency, critical care and maternity services.
Julian Hartley, chief executive of healthcare managers' body NHS Providers, said the strike was carried out at one of the toughest times of the year for the health service, “just after Christmas and New Year, due to demand and health pressures”. He said that he was injured. Of course, there is influenza, and there is also the new coronavirus.
“Therefore, there will be a significant impact on patients,” he says.
Britain's socialized healthcare system is forced to operate on a holiday schedule as doctors' strike continueshttps://t.co/WY5AtARCYT
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Britain has endured a year of continuous strikes across the health sector as workers demand pay rises to offset rising costs of living.
The strike is straining an already stretched health service that is still struggling to recover from backlogs caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Nurses, paramedics and senior doctors have reached a pay deal with the government, but the union representing junior doctors has stalled and negotiations have stalled. The government has said it will hold no further negotiations unless doctors call off their strike, but the union has said it will not negotiate unless it receives a “credible” wage offer.
Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the British Medical Association's Junior Doctors Committee, said: 'We are keen to call for a strike and the idea that all we want to do is call a strike is a big no-no for us. That's not what I want.” “What we want is to negotiate an offer that we can present to our members and that they accept.”
