Thousands of doctors left their jobs in Britain on Wednesday at the start of a six-day strike that will be the longest in the history of the publicly funded National Health Service.
Tens of thousands of appointments and operations scheduled during the strike by resident doctors – those starting their careers – in England and Wales, according to service managers. The doctors, who form the backbone of the hospital and clinical care, plan to continue the strike until 7:00 am on Tuesday.
Senior doctors and other professionals have been mobilized to cover emergency, intensive care and maternity services.
Julian Hartley, chief executive of health management organization NHS Providers, said the strike comes at one of the most difficult times of the year for the public health service, “right after the Christmas and New Year period due to demand pressure, and of course flu and Covid.
He added: “So the impact on patients will be significant.”
Britain has witnessed a year of continuous strikes in the health care sector, demanding higher wages to address the high cost of living.
The strikes were a test for an already overwhelmed public health system, which is still trying to recover from delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Nurses, ambulance employees and senior doctors reached agreements on wages with the government, but the union representing residents rejected the proposals and negotiations stopped. The government says it will hold no further talks unless the strike is called off, while the union says it will not negotiate unless it receives a “credible” offer.
Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the British Medical Association's resident doctors committee, said: “The idea that we are so hell-bent on calling strikes and all we want to do is call strikes is not what we want.”
“What we want is to negotiate an offer that we can make to our members and that our members can accept.”
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