LONDON: Thousands of doctors in England began a five-day strike on Friday (Nov 14) over pay and training posts, the 13th walkout by medics since March 2023.
Health Minister Wes Streeting condemned the strike by some resident doctors – who are below consultant level and make up half the medical workforce in hospitals.
Streeting accused the leadership of the doctors’ union, the British Medical Association (BMA), of “choosing confrontation over care”.
“This strike isn’t about fairness anymore. It’s about political posturing,” he alleged in the right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper.
“We cannot and will not move on pay, especially not after a 28.9 per cent pay rise over the last three years and the highest pay award across the entire public sector in the last two,” he added.
The functioning of the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) is a major political issue in Britain, with the government of beleaguered Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer under pressure to bring down waiting times for patients.
The NHS’ ability to reduce waiting lists has been affected in part by repeated industrial action by both resident doctors and consultants.
The BMA argues that the resident doctors need a 26 per cent pay hike to restore their earnings to the real value they had two decades ago.
The union is also demanding an increase in training posts.
