2024-01-03 10:37:46
Updated Wednesday, January 3, 2024 – 09:37
The group rejected a salary increase offer made last summer of 8.8%, considering that they need 35% more to compensate for the loss of purchasing power
Doctors on strike at London’s St Thomas’ Hospital. HENRY NICHOLLSAFPHealth About 24,000 specialist doctors are going on strike in the UK
Resident doctors in England They began a six-day strike this Wednesday to demand better pay conditions, the largest strike recorded in the history of the British Public Health Service.
This group, which includes both recent graduates and veteran professionals studying higher degrees, will leave their duties from today at 7 GMT until the same time on January 9, in the longest strike since the founding of the National system of health (NHS, in English) in 1948.
These doctors, who have already carried out 28 days of work stoppage in 2023, voted in favor of returning to the picket lines after negotiations between the union broke down in December. British Medical Association (BMA, in English) and the Conservative Government of the United Kingdom.
The group, numbering around 75,000 professionals in the region of England – half of the workforce, in the most populated territory in the country – rejected an offer of an 8.8% increase made last summer, considering that they need 35% more to compensate for the loss of purchasing power since 2008.
The strike started mainly affect scheduled consultationsmany of which have been canceled as staff concentrate on emergencies, which NHS managers call one of the busiest planned weeks of the year, after the festive period.
Resident doctors in Gales They also plan to carry out a 72-hour strike starting January 15, while those from North Ireland They also consider going on strike. The professionals of Scotland They already reached an agreement with the Scottish autonomous government in 2023.
Last year, numerous professional groups went on strike in the United Kingdom, including nurses, ambulance staff and specialist doctors, along with postmen and customs and railway workers.
The 2023 medical strikes led to the cancellation of more than 1.2 million appointmentswith a cost to the NHS of about 2,000 million pounds (2,300 million euros), according to official data.
The Minister of Health, Victoria Atkinssaid that resident doctors, who in some cases earn £14 (€16) an hour, should “return to the negotiating table in order to find a fair and reasonable solution that will end the strikes once and for all.”
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