NHS leaders are preparing for a 72-hour strike by junior doctors, which begins at 7am on Monday.
It’s not hard to see why they’re so concerned: 45% of the medical workforce are junior doctors, two-thirds of them are members of the BMA union organizing the strike, and they plan to get out of trouble as well as planned ones Care.
Your action is likely to affect every region in England.
Independent physicians and other senior physicians are consulted for coverage. Many planned appointments will be postponed – it is not yet clear how many.
Aspiring doctors say they have no choice but to take this action, which they say is as much about feeling undervalued and overworked as it is about getting paid.
You can read more about or watch this report on why people are on strike and below you can find information on how it might affect you.
More than 36,000 junior doctors will go on strike in England on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Counselors are being called in to provide some coverage but the NHS is warning of “major disruption and thousands of patients who could face postponements of their treatment as a result of the strike”.
NHS advice is to dial 999 in an emergency and show up for hospital appointments unless you’re told otherwise.
Other things to note are:
- Emergency care will continue to be offered.
- People who need critical care, newborn care and trauma care are prioritized.
- If you urgently need care, you should dial 111.
- GP services are not directly affected by the strike, so people should keep GP appointments.
- Some hospital dentists will also go on strike.
Young doctors in England want a 35% pay rise.
The British Medical Association (BMA) calls it wage recovery after 26% cuts when accounting for inflation since 2008.
The 35 percent increase is needed to offset the 26 percent cut, it said.
Junior doctors make up around 45% of the medical workforce in England.
This includes those who have just graduated from university to doctors with 10 years of experience, so the strike action will have a big impact.
Around two thirds of young doctors are BMA members.
They leave both emergency care and planned care, as well as the general practice where some young doctors will work as GPs in training.
This means NHS bosses are pulling in advisers and other senior doctors to cover them in emergency care such as A&E and critical care.
This will result in many planned treatments such as knee and hip replacements being postponed.
In recent weeks, the BMA’s senior junior staff have met with ministers and government officials.
But there were no formal salary talks.
Ministers have made it clear that they are unwilling to meet the salary demands of junior doctors.
Instead, the government is focused on reaching an agreement with the 14 health unions representing NHS workers other than doctors after suspending their strike action.
Talks were held last week with unions representing everyone from nurses and midwives to ambulance workers and physiotherapists.
They have been in talks to effectively offer staff a bonus for this year, in addition to a 4.75% pay rise and a more generous increase from April for 2023-24 – the government has proposed 3.5% but unions have made it clear that they want more.
Follow Zoë Conway on Twitter
Additional reporting by Nick Triggle and Tom Espiner
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