NHS consultants and junior doctors begin historic joint strike in England

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Thousands of junior doctors and consultants across the UK went on strike on Wednesday in a major escalation of their campaign for a pay rise that will escalate tensions with Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government.

For the first time in the NHS’s 75-year history, junior and senior medical staff have taken joint strike action, leaving patients across the country with only “Christmas” emergency services available.

Standing outside University College London Hospital as passing cars honked their horns in support and colleagues chanted slogans and waved banners, BMA advisory board member Tom Dolphin said: “The reason we are taking joint action today is that we It needs to be shown that the government believes… we cannot be divided and they cannot pit one group against another.”

He said doctors had a heavy heart. “We would rather do what we are trained to do, which is take care of patients.” However, he said wages have fallen by more than a third since 2008, coupled with deteriorating working conditions, which is weakening the workforce.

“We have 8,000 consultant vacancies across the country and it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide the care patients need,” he said.

Some 885,000 appointments and procedures have been canceled since the strike began in England in December, with ministers publicly blaming NHS waiting lists, which have reached a record 7.7 million people. But Dolphin pointed out that 7 million people were waiting for treatment before the strike began.

“We know this is largely due to a lack of resources and staff in the NHS. If we don’t solve this problem, the situation will only get worse,” he said.

Consultants and junior doctors were on the picket line outside University College London Hospital on Wednesday
Doctors demand pay restoration after long income crunch ©Charlie Beebe/Financial Times

In July, Sunak accepted the recommendation of the independent doctors’ pay review body to increase his salary by 6% and merge the extra salary into the basic salary of junior doctors. Both he and Health Secretary Steve Barclay insist the award is final.

Barclays said on Tuesday that “coordinated and planned strike action” would “cause further disruption and distress to patients and NHS colleagues”.

Doctors commencing hospital training this year will receive a 10.3 per cent pay rise, with junior doctors receiving an average pay rise of 8.8 per cent, he added, with consultants receiving a pay rise accompanied by “generous” pension reforms.

“It is possible for the dispute to end, but that would require the government to truly acknowledge the legitimacy of our demands, which they currently appear to be working on,” Dolphin said.

Opinion polls show popular support for the strikers. But Robert Huxtable, who was leaving the hospital after his appointment, expressed disappointment on both sides. He pointed at the strikers and said: “They should take care of the sick first…”. . I don’t believe this is correct. ” He called on both sides to sit down and negotiate.

Vicky Timms, consultant in emergency medicine at Northwick Park Hospital, has her sights set on the next generation as she holds her three-year-old daughter Hien, who enthusiastically waves a blue colored BMA flag. She lamented the stress of the job and said she believed her health care workers would be the first to not want their children to follow in their footsteps. “We feel undervalued and underestimated,” she said.

“Everyone here is absolutely shocked that we have to stand on the picket line. No one wants to leave the patient,” she said.

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