UK senior doctors to go on strike

LONDON

Senior doctors in English hospitals are to stage industrial action for only the third time, forcing the cancellation of routine operations for patients, their union have announced. 

Consultant doctors will strike on July 20 and 21 to press the government for better pay - just after a five-day stoppage by more junior doctors.

It is a rare step by the consultants - typically specialists in specific fields of medicine - after they previously staged industrial action in 1975 and 2012.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said 20,741 of its consultant members - more than 86 percent of those voting - had voted to strike.

The union said their pay had fallen by one-third in relative terms from 15 years ago.

Vishal Sharma, chairman of the BMA consultants committee, said the onus now lay with the government to come back with a "credible" pay offer.

If the government refuses to improve its offer, "it is with a heavy heart that we will take action next month", Sharma said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stood firm against the pay demands of doctors, nurses and others such as train drivers, arguing the need for restraint to curb soaring inflation.

After a pay rise last fiscal year, British consultants now average 128,000 pounds ($163,000) in annual pay and their hefty pensions are set to be boosted by tax changes, the government said.

Successive walk-outs by medics have added to pressure on the state-run NHS, which is battling to cut waiting lists for appointments and treatment after the COVID pandemic.