Doctors’ strike ‘sends shockwaves’ through UK healthcare system

Junior doctors at Public Health England have begun their 10th strike in a year. It is the latest strike in a wide-ranging labor dispute that has cost billions of dollars and delayed reservations for more than a million people.

These doctors, who are licensed medical doctors and may have up to eight years of experience in hospitals, began a five-day strike on Saturday.

Experts feared the move would be a “shock” to England’s overburdened National Health Service, which is still battling added pressure from winter illnesses such as influenza. ing.

The ongoing dispute, which began with the November 2022 care strike, has seen several major staffing groups pull out over pay and working conditions.

Since then, various wage agreements have been proposed, accepted, and rejected. Although some staffing organizations have ended their strikes, young doctors continue to leave their jobs.

Overall, industrial action has delayed more than 1.3 million appointments, putting further strain on hospitals already struggling with long waiting lists.

It is also thought that the NHS, which provides the majority of the country’s health care, has lost more than $3.8 billion (£3 billion) in lost choice activities and increased costs. Hospitals have had to spend additional cash on staffing agencies and senior staff to help continue services.

Sir Julian Hartley, head of hospital industry group NHS Providers, said: “Every strike sends a shockwave through the NHS, affecting patients and staff, with little time to recover.”

It also has a serious impact on employee morale, he added in a statement. He said staff are “doing everything they can to clear the backlog of care, but the strike has made this an almost impossible task.”

“[Hospital] Leaders have plans to keep patients safe, but fear junior doctors will go on strike again. He added that “both sides of the conflict” needed to “redouble their efforts to find a solution.”

Why do employees go on strike?

According to the BBC, junior doctors, who are roughly equivalent to US residents (who are considering changes to their job titles to reflect this), previously received an average 9% pay rise in 2023/24.

Negotiations, including discussion of a further 3% increase, took place last year. However, it ended in December without a solution.

Young doctors argue that this increase does not compensate for years of inflation. Union leaders say wages have not kept up with rising costs of living for years and are calling for a 35% “pay recovery”.

Unions say workers feel undervalued because of low wages and that doctors are leaving the country to work overseas.

NHS healthcare workers are already understaffed, and some specialties have been particularly hard hit by Brexit. Unions say better wages are needed to attract and retain staff, which are increasingly needed as demand from an aging population increases.

But this dispute is not just about wages. Currently, working conditions in the country’s hospitals are often very harsh, with overcrowding and long waiting lists becoming the new norm.

Despite the impact of the strike on patients, public opinion still supports the staff strike, according to a poll published by Savanta. mirror.

The company said 53% of those surveyed supported the doctors and 46% said the UK government was primarily responsible for the strike.

Only 13% said healthcare workers themselves were to blame.

Unions have argued that ministers have been unwilling to negotiate through various strikes.

Leaders of the British Medical Association, which represents striking doctors, say the government could have stopped the action by talking about pay.

Junior Doctors Committee co-chairs Dr Robert Lawrenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said in a statement that the government “may have accepted our offer to delay this strike action to allow more space for consultation”. I can’t do it.”

In return, the union wanted to extend its legal obligation to strike, which expires at the end of this month. Member states have already voted on whether to open an additional six-month period before strikes.

“The strength of determination shown by young doctors across the country gives us full hope that that mission will be renewed for the fall,” Lawrenson and Trivedi said. “There is no point in the government delaying any longer. The time to end this conflict is now.”

However, Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins called on union leaders to “get back to the table” in a comment piece on October 1, 2018. daily mail.

“When I speak to constituents and NHS colleagues, one thing that often comes up is a desire to feel valued,” she wrote. “They want access to quality training, opportunities to diversify into other specialties, and flexibility to manage shift patterns that promote a healthy work-life balance.”

Accepting that these are things “the NHS can do better”, she said: “As well as improving working conditions for all staff, we want to find a settlement that is fair and reasonable for patients, junior doctors and the taxpayer.” said.

Industry leaders call for solutions

For now, it is impossible to predict how long junior doctors will continue their strike. Doctors from other parts of the UK are already planning further industrial action.

Junior doctors in Wales resigned earlier this week over a proposed 5% pay rise that the BMA called “unacceptable”. They are planning another strike in March, as are junior doctors in Northern Ireland.

Matthew Taylor, head of industry group the NHS Federation, called on ministers and union leaders to work “imaginatively” to find a solution.

“I don’t think it helps anyone to try to shift the blame. The reality is that there will be another five days of junior doctors’ strike, which is very demoralizing for us as medical workers. “It’s a moment,” he told Sky News on Saturday.

“I think what we’re saying to both sides is, don’t stick to rituals, be imaginative. Maybe it’s time for both sides to tell us what they’re willing to accept. I don’t know.

“We have some idea of ​​what both sides want, but what will we accept? What compromises are acceptable?”