Tens of thousands of junior doctors in England have decided to strike next month, according to their trade union, adding to a string of nurse and ambulance walkouts that have already put a strain on the healthcare system.
In a vote, 98% of participants chose to support strike action, according to the British Medical Association (BMA), which represents over 45,000 junior doctors in England. They will organize a 72-hour walkout the following month. The BMA omitted to provide a strike date.
Massive response 77% turnout with 98% YES
— Dr Tony Goldstone 💙 (@goldstone_tony) February 20, 2023
Well Done @BMA_JuniorDocs 👏#EnoughIsEnough #PayRestoration
This is a great result for junior doctors & also for the *patients* they serve
RT if you want @SteveBarclay @Jeremy_Hunt to do the right thing https://t.co/sZUdGjKmQw pic.twitter.com/JwftHoHiMg
Junior doctors agreed to a four-year agreement in 2019 that included an annual 2% wage increase, but they now claim that is insufficient due to significantly greater inflation.
The majority of England’s junior doctors have strong opinions, as demonstrated by this vote, according to the BMA. “We have voted in our thousands, but we are disillusioned, dejected, and enraged.”
According to the BMA, junior doctors are individuals who have completed clinical training and have up to three to eight years of general practice or hospital experience. They are managed by an experienced physician.
Steve Barclay, the British minister of health, described the vote as “very regrettable.”
“I’ve had meetings with the BMA and other medical unions to talk about what is reasonable and fair, as well as more general concerns about conditions and workload. In a statement, he used the abbreviation for the National Health Service to say, “I want to continue talking about how we can make the NHS a better place to work for everyone.
According to a recent poll, the BMA claims that young physicians have seen a real terms wage fall of more than 25% since 2008, which has left many feeling demoralized. Four out of ten have expressed a desire to leave the field.
The strikes will put more strain on the UK’s publicly financed NHS, which is already overburdened by staffing issues and backlogs of patient care and is now dealing with waves of disruptive strike action from health workers.
The government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stated that bigger wage raises would only lead to more inflation and higher interest and mortgage rates.
While the nursing trade union last week declared a new 48-hour strike beginning March 1, more than 10,000 ambulance personnel went on strike on Monday.