Junior doctors in England begin longest strike in NHS history

Tens of thousands of junior doctors in England began six days of industrial action over pay disputes on Wednesday, marking the longest strike in the National Health Service's (NHS) 75-year history, reported Xinhua.

"All we need is a credible offer we can put to members and we can call off these strikes," the British Medical Association's (BMA) junior doctors committee co-chairs Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi said in a statement.

"Morale across the health service is at an all-time low," they added, noting that 15 years of pay erosion have meant a 26-percent pay cut in real terms for "an increasingly undervalued workforce who are overstretched."

The walkouts came after talks collapsed between the government and BMA members, who have been calling for a 35-percent pay increase.

In September 2023, NHS doctors in England began to receive pay rises, with first year doctors in training awarded 10.3 percent, while the average junior doctor got 8.8 percent. The government has resisted the idea of higher rises due to fears over worsening inflation.

"We have sought to come to a fair resolution -- fair for the taxpayer, fair for hardworking doctors and health workers," a spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday.

The strikes have put mounting pressure on an already overstretched medical system. During junior doctors' last walkout in late December 2023, more than 86,000 inpatient and outpatient appointments had to be rescheduled, according to NHS England.

"The action will not only have an enormous impact on planned care, but comes on top of a host of seasonal pressures such as Covid, flu, and staff absences due to sickness," NHS National Medical Director Stephen Powis said on Tuesday.