British doctors announce first strike in six decades
Doctors in England plan to stage their first strike in 60 years, announced the union representing them, signaling troubles for the new Labour government, which seeks to end the strikes.
According to Agence France-Presse, the British Medical Association (BMA) stated that 98% of more than 8,500 general practitioners (GPs) voted in favor of the action due to a funding dispute.
The strike will commence immediately and could last for months, according to the doctors.
The union stated that their action could “very quickly” lead to the shutdown of the state-funded National Health Service (NHS), which has been struggling for years with underfunding and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This week, the government and the British Medical Association reached an agreement to end strikes by junior doctors, those who are not specialists and consultants working in hospitals.
The Labour Party, which achieved a sweeping victory in the general election on July 4th, has made addressing the NHS crisis a priority, pledging to resolve the issues of long waiting times for appointments and surgeries and the migration of professionals leaving the service.
Key to achieving this is ending the long-standing disputes ignited by high inflation rates that plagued the previous Conservative administration.
The British Medical Association stated that under the new measures, GPs could limit the number of patients they see daily to 25, compared to sometimes more than 40.
Clinics will be able to refuse to perform procedures they are formally contracted to do.
Kitty Bramal-Steiner, the chair of the BMA committee representing GPs in England, said, “This is an act of desperation. For far too long, we have been unable to provide the care we want.”
The British Medical Association said the new GP contract, which will see a 1.9% increase in service funding for the 2024-2025 period, means that many clinics will struggle to stay financially afloat.
British media reported that the last time GPs conducted a collective strike was in 1964.
The action will not affect Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, where local administrations manage the healthcare sector.
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On Monday, the government and the British Medical Association agreed to a 22.3% wage increase to end the dispute with junior doctors, which included the longest strike in the seven-decade history of the NHS, totaling six days.
