The strike which involve NHS staff, nurses, paramedics and others, demands rises that better reflect annual inflation running at more than 10%
Junior doctors across England have launched a 4-day strike, starting today, i.e., Tuesday, April 11, 2023, for better aligning the pay with rising inflation.
The unprecedented disruption would lead to quarter of a million appointments postponed. Junior doctors make up nearly half of the medical workforce are not happy with the state-funded National Health Service (NHS).
The British Medical Association (BMA), the union representing doctors, wants a 35% rise, arguing that members have suffered a 26% real-terms cut in pay over 15 years.
Speaking on the occasion, NHS England National Medical Director – Stephen Powis said, “This next round of strikes will see unparalleled levels of disruption, and we are very concerned about the potential severity of impact on patients and services across the country.”
He said there will be considerably more cancellations in operations and procedures this time than the 175,000 that were rescheduled during the previous walkout. He also said that the NHS was working to ensure emergency services are kept intact.
He further said, “We’ve also asked (hospitals) to reschedule procedures and outpatients as quickly as possible but this will take weeks to recover from.”
One of the junior doctors – Aislinn Macklin Doherty said, “If you’re in a system where the wolves are crumbling around you, which I think is linked to pay cuts, you then get to a critical point where you have to either stand up for what you believe in or you just accept and leave.”
The BMA has said the strikes by junior doctors, some of whom are very experienced, could be stopped if Health Secretary – Steve Barclay puts in a credible pay offer to resolve 15 years of pay erosion.
Barclay said, “This demand is widely out of step with pay settlements in other parts of the public sector at a time of considerable economic pressure on our country.”
The junior doctors have been trying to meet Barclay to negotiate a settlement to this dispute, long before the current strike got under way. But Barclay refused to respond and meet them until they had a strike ballot result.
The strike is the latest to involve NHS staff, following walkouts by nurses, paramedics and others demanding rises that better reflect annual inflation running at more than 10%.
The stress has driven thousands of doctors out of the profession or into depression. Many of the doctors’ problems are systemic, given reduced resources and staff shortages. The United Kingdom (U.K.) has been hit by strikes across broad swaths of the economy, with workers struggling with a cost-of-living crisis caused by double-digit inflation.
