The strike by tens of thousands of junior physicians in England began on Monday and lasted three days, causing significant disruption in state-funded hospitals and clinics throughout the United Kingdom.
45% of all doctors in the National Health Service are junior doctors who are qualified but are still in the beginning stages of their careers. Senior doctors and other medical professionals have been called in to cover emergency services, critical care, and maternity services due to their walkout, which will cancel operations and appointments for thousands of patients.
The workload and patient waiting lists are at all-time highs, according to the British Medical Association, the trade union for physicians, but junior doctors’ salary has decreased by 26% in real terms since 2008.
According to the union, many doctors are leaving public health care due to stress and the problem with the U.K.’s cost of living.
According to the union, freshly qualified doctors only make $14.09 ($17) per hour.
According to 29-year-old obstetrics and gynecology trainee Rebecca Lissman, all junior doctors are requesting a salary commensurate with their training level. We adore the NHS, and I don’t want to work in private practice, but I believe public services are eroding.
Nurses and paramedics have recently organized strikes to call for improved compensation and working conditions. According to NHS data, the nurses’ walkouts have already caused more than 100,000 appointments to be rescheduled this winter.
The 72-hour strike scheduled for this week is anticipated to have the most severe effects and to produce “significant disruption,” according to Stephen Powis, medical director of NHS England.
He predicted that some cancer treatments would likely be impacted along with regular checkups and some operations.
According to the junior physicians’ organization, government officials have been refusing to discuss their demands for months, and a recent offer to negotiations came with “inappropriate” preconditions, the prime minister told reporters on Sunday.
Tens of thousands of teachers and government employees will walk out in unison on Wednesday, the day the government releases its most recent budget update, in addition to the doctors’ strike this week.
Workers have been demanding salary increases to keep up with soaring inflation, which stood at 10.1% in January, so strikes have interrupted British citizens’ lives for months.
Though it decreased from a peak of 11.1% in November, this is still the highest level in forty years.
Several other public sector workers, including bus drivers, postal workers, baggage handlers at airports, border agents, railway drivers, and driving examiners, have taken unpaid leave to seek better wages.
According to unions, earnings have decreased in real terms over the past ten years, particularly in the public sector. Many people are finding it difficult to make ends meet due to a cost-of-living crisis brought on by drastically rising food and energy costs prices.
JOIN US ON WHAT'SAPP, TO GET INSTANT STATUS UPDATES AND BE IN THE KNOW.
CLICK HERE
