JUNIOR DOCTORS IN ENGLAND STARTED SIX-DAY INDUSTRIAL ACTION – Demanding a commitment to prevent any future pay decreases against inflation/ cost of living
Junior doctors in England started a six-day industrial action yesterday. It started from 7am on the 3rd of January and it is expected to end at 7am on the 9th of January – the longest in the history of the NHS. Health service executives have said the strike could mean “one of the most difficult starts to the year the NHS has ever faced”.
But the British Medical Association (BMA) has said it was forced to take action and reject the government’s December pay offer as it fails to compensate for real-terms pay cuts going as far back as 2008. The strikes only involve junior doctors in England. Under the NHS system, a junior doctor is any medical school graduate with between one and nine years’ experience.
They can be either members of the BMA or the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association union.
NHS consultants took strike action in September and October and agreed to an extra 4.95% pay rise for senior doctors on top of the annual 6% increase already offered to them by the government. This will be voted on by members of their union this month.
