LONDON: Tens of thousands of junior doctors at the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) in Britain are set to go on a four-day strike, which officials have warned could be “catastrophic.” The strike, scheduled to start on Tuesday, comes amid a cost-of-living crisis and a backlog of appointments that predates the pandemic, leading to longer waiting times to see a doctor.
The previous three-day strike by doctors last month had a crippling effect on the healthcare system, and officials are bracing for the worst this time.
The doctors’ union, British Medical Association (BMA), has asked for a 35 percent pay rise to bring junior doctor pay back to 2008 levels.
Newly qualified medics earn only over 14 pounds ($17) an hour, while the workload and patient waiting lists for treatment are at record highs. With inflation ballooning above 10 percent, and spikes in food and heating costs, wages have fallen in real terms, and people have struggled to pay bills.
Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the National Health Service Confederation, has warned that the strikes would have a catastrophic impact on the capacity of the NHS to recover.
“The health service has to meet increasing demand at the same time as making inroads into that huge backlog. That is a tough thing to do at the best of times — it’s impossible to do when strikes are continuing,” he said in a statement to Sky News.
Government terms doctors’ demand unrealistic
The government has called the doctors’ demand for a 35 percent pay rise unrealistic, and Health Secretary Steve Barclay has accused the union of planning the strikes to “cause maximum disruption.” The Department of Health and Social Care (HSC) has insisted that strikes be called off before negotiations can take place.
However, the BMA has argued that the pay increase is necessary to retain and attract doctors and to address the long-standing issue of low pay.
Stephen Powis, the national medical director of National Health Service England, has said that emergency, urgent, and critical care will be prioritized during the strikes, which he believes will be the most disruptive in the health service’s history.
As negotiations between the government and the union remain at an impasse, Taylor has suggested that the government and the union called in outside negotiators to help break the deadlock.
The strikes, if they go ahead, are likely to cause significant disruption to the already stretched NHS and could put patient safety at risk.
In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, the strikes by doctors are part of a larger wave of public sector strikes demanding pay hikes. While some unions have reached agreements with the government, many others, including teachers and nurses, are still negotiating.
