Image credit: AP. Junior doctors show banners as they start a 48hrs strike at the St Thomas Hospital in London.
Junior doctors in the UK withdrew from everything but emergency services that resulted in 5,000 operations being postponed and went on a 48-hour strike today. This is the fourth walkout because of their bitter dispute with the government over working conditions. Doctors prepared legal challenges to the UK government’s ruling to impose changes to their pay and conditions from this year.
Payments for working on weekends, also known as anti-social hours, remain a problem for doctors. The government argues that current arrangements are outdated and changes are needed to improve standards of medical care during weekends.
“Responsibility for industrial action now lies entirely with the government. They must start listening and resume negotiations on a properly funded junior doctors’ contract to protect the future of patient care and the NHS (National Health Service),” said Johann Malawana, British Medical Association’s (BMA) junior doctors’ leader.
However, the UK government’s Department of Health (DoH) described this action as “irresponsible and disproportionate”:
“This strike is irresponsible and disproportionate, and with almost 25,000 operations cancelled so far, it is patients who are suffering. If the BMA had agreed to negotiate on Saturday pay, as they promised to do through ACAS in November, we’d have a negotiated agreement by now,” said a spokesperson.
Malawana said it “deeply regrets” the disruption but had “no choice.”
A new contract enforced by the government “would be bad for the delivery of patient care in the long term,” said Malawana, urging the government to return to the negotiating table.
If no agreement is reached, there will be a new wave of strikes, with another 48-hour walkout, planned for April 26. It will also involve junior doctors withdrawing all but emergency care from hospitals across the UK.