Here’s what you need to know about the doctors striking in England.
The resident doctors are planning a five-day walk-out starting from 25th July because of issues with their pay.
The trade union for doctors, the British Medical Association (BMA), claims that with inflation adjusted, the doctors' pay will be 20% lower than what it used to be in August 2008. The demand is to bring back the pay to that level.
The government, however, disagrees, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting labelling the strike as “unreasonable.” This is because the government believes that there have been substantial pay rises for doctors in recent years.
While the BMA is quoting the Retail Price Index to prove the decrease in their pay, the government uses the Consumer Price Index to calculate inflation and pay rises, according to which the decline in doctors’ pay is not substantial.
In the last two years, doctors have taken part in 11 strikes demanding a pay rise and have been handed out a 22% till now, with an additional 5.4% hike scheduled from August this year.
The Health Secretary pointed out that doctors have had the largest pay rise out of any public sector employees over the last three years and the government won’t be increasing the pay anymore.
Resident doctors earn anaduring their first year as doctors, and after eight years, the salaries can progress to around £70,000 for around 48 hours of work.
However, the case made my BMA for a pay rise is that doctors accumulate higher education debt and have low control over their work hours, location of placement and have to work night shifts, weekends, and longer shifts for extra pay.
NHS leaders have warned the strikes will have a disruptive effect on patient care. The strike would mean that senior doctors will have to work in emergencies and urgent care, leading to possible rescheduling of planned operations.
The past strikes have affected around 507,000 patients according to government analysis. These strikes won’t affect Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.