Junior doctors in England begin four-day strike over pay
Junior doctors across England have begun a four-day strike that will result in an estimated 350,000 appointments including operations being cancelled.
Doctors will mount picket lines outside hospitals from 7am until Saturday morning in a deteriorating dispute over pay. It is the longest industrial action in the health service since nurses, ambulance crews and other health workers took action last year.
NHS managers have said patient care is “on a knife-edge” because of the stoppage by members of the British Medical Association (BMA). The chief executive of the NHS Confederation, Matthew Taylor, said the likely impact of the strike was “heartbreaking” and called on both sides to end their “battle of rhetoric”.
Taylor told the BBC there was no question this strike would be more disruptive than the 72-hour stoppages by NHS staff last month, which led to 175,000 cancelled appointments.
On Monday Taylor, who heads the body that represents the healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said up to 350,000 appointments and operations would be cancelled this week.
He said he hoped everyone who needed urgent care would get it, but added: “There’s no point hiding the fact that there will be risks to patients – risks to patient safety, risks to patient dignity – as we’re not able to provide the kind of care that we want to.”
The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “The junior doctors’ strike this week will cause huge disruption to patient care. Where is the prime minister and why hasn’t he tried to stop it?
“Rishi Sunak says he wouldn’t want to get in the middle of NHS pay disputes. Patients are crying out for leadership but instead they are getting weakness.”
New advertisements by the BMA show how much junior
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