Doctors in England stage historic strike
LONDON — Doctors in England staged a historic strike Tuesday amid a months-long dispute over a new contract the government wants to impose on them.
The strike will last until Wednesday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day. It is the first time in the history of the National Health Service, Britain’s taxpayer-funded health system, that industrial action on this scale is taking place. Junior doctors in the United Kingdom can be newly qualified or have up to 10 years' experience.
Senior doctors and other medics will provide cover. The strike is not taking place in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
The NHS said it was “pulling out all the stops” to minimize the risks to patients during the strike. It said hospitals had plans in place to provide essential services such as emergency and maternity care, but the “unprecedented situation” had led to the postponement of 12,711 elective operations.
Junior doctors get extra pay for working night and weekend shifts, but the new contract would see their Saturday daytime shifts paid at the normal rate from the summer, with a rise in basic pay.
Jeremy Hunt, Britain's health secretary, urged junior doctors not to withdraw emergency cover in a speech to the parliament Monday. The Department of Health said that if the doctors had agreed to negotiate on pay on Saturdays, there would have been an agreement.
Hunt said the underlying reason for the dispute was "this government’s determination to be the first country in the world to offer a proper patient-focused 7 day health service."
“The new contract offers junior doctors who work frequently at weekends more Saturday premium pay than nurses, paramedics, than the assistants who work in their own operating theaters, more than police officers or fire fighters and nearly every other worker in the public and private sectors,” he said.
Johann Malawana, chairman of the British Medical Association's committee for junior doctors, a group that represents their interests, said Tuesday was “an incredibly sad day for doctors, and the rest of society.”
“We deeply regret the disruption caused to patients, but we know experienced staff will be working hard to provide the emergency care they need and it is for the benefit of the same patients and people who need to use the NHS in future that we take this action,” he said.
“We have made the government a clear offer as to what it will take avert industrial action,” he added. “We offered a simple choice — lift imposition and the strikes would be called off, but unfortunately the health secretary simply refuses to do that.”