Thousands of UK doctors begin ‘longest walkout’ in NHS history over pay issues

Junior doctors in England have commenced a five-day strike. The walkout will be the longest in the history of the National Health Service (NHS) and is part of an ongoing protest over pay issues within the health service. The conflict has already led to a series of strikes and the cancellation of numerous operations and consultations.

The latest strike comes as speculation is rife that the government will soon announce its decision on recommendations made by pay review bodies for public sector workers, including teachers, civil servants, and NHS staff. These recommendations are rumoured to include pay rises ranging from 6 per cent to 6.5 per cent.

Leaders of the British Medical Association (BMA) have called on the government to return to negotiations to resolve the ongoing dispute.

The Guardian reports that Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, leaders of the BMA, emphasised that the strike could be called off if the UK government followed the example of the Scottish government and dropped their "nonsensical precondition" of not engaging in talks during strikes.

"Today marks the start of the longest single walkout by doctors in the NHS’s history, but this is still not a record that needs to go into the history books," they said.

Highlighting the pay offer made to junior doctors in Scotland as an example of a credible approach, they said, "The Health Secretary has said there can be no talks while strikes are planned - Scotland has proved him wrong. He said above 5 per cent wasn’t realistic - Scotland proved him wrong. He refused to even acknowledge the concept of pay restoration - Scotland proved this is not only possible but essential."

Criticising the inflexible stance taken by the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary Steve Barclay, they stated that talks need to be resumed and argued that the UK government's refusal to engage in dialogue with junior doctors in England, despite strikes being planned, goes against the norms of industrial action.

Expressing their frustration with the government, they said, "The complete inflexibility we see from the UK government today is baffling, frustrating and ultimately destructive for everyone who wants waiting lists to go down and NHS staffing numbers to go up."

Further, they pointed out that the UK government has missed several opportunities to provide a credible offer and bring an end to the industrial action by junior doctors.

They emphasised that while there are differences between the positions of junior doctors and the governments of England and Scotland, "the UK government has far more financial freedom to give doctors what they deserve."

As per Saffron Cordery, Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Providers, the disruption caused by strikes is not only affecting patients but is also eroding the relationship between trust leaders and their staff.

Cordery emphasised the growing risk of delaying treatment for thousands of patients and the strain it places on already overstretched services, making it harder to reduce waiting lists.

He said that the consecutive months of industrial action across the NHS have led to the rescheduling of more than 651,000 routine procedures and appointments.

Highlighting the impact on patient safety, Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay expressed disappointment at the further strike action by the BMA.

"It is disappointing that the BMA is going ahead with further strike action. This five-day walkout by junior doctors will have an impact on thousands of patients, put patient safety at risk and hamper efforts to cut NHS waiting lists," said Barclay, as reported by The Independent.

As per Barclay the BMA's pay demand of 35 per cent or more is "unreasonable" and inflationary.

"We were in discussions about pay and a range of other measures to improve the working lives of junior doctors until their representatives collapsed the negotiations by announcing further strikes. A pay demand of 35 per cent or more is unreasonable and risks fuelling inflation, which makes everyone poorer."

(With inputs from agencies)
 

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