Thousands of doctors walked off their jobs in Britain on Wednesday, the start of a six-day strike over pay that was set to be the longest in the history of the state-funded

Managers said tens of thousands scheduled appointments and operations will be canceled during the walkout across England and Wales by junior doctors, those in the first years of their careers. The doctors, who form the backbone of hospital and clinic care, plan to stay off the job until 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

Senior doctors and other medics have had to be drafted in to cover for emergency services, critical care and maternity services.

Julian Hartley, chief executive of heath care managers91裸聊视频� organization NHS Providers, said the strike came at one of the toughest times of the year for the health service, 91裸聊视频渋mmediately after the Christmas and New Year period because of the pressures the demands, and of course we91裸聊视频檝e got flu, we91裸聊视频檝e got COVID.

91裸聊视频淪o there91裸聊视频檚 going to be an impact on patients that will be significant,91裸聊视频� he said.

Britain has endured a year of as staff sought pay rises to offset the soaring cost of living. Unions say wages, especially in the public sector, have fallen in real terms over the past decade, and double-digit inflation in late 2022 and early 2023, fueled by sharply rising food and energy prices, left many workers struggling to pay their bills.

The union says newly qualified doctors earn 15.53 pounds ($19.37) an hour 91裸聊视频� the U.K. minimum wage is just over 10 pounds an hour 91裸聊视频� though salaries rise rapidly after the first year.

On a picket line outside St. Thomas91裸聊视频� Hospital in central London, 28-year-old Dr. Georgia Blackwell said stress and low pay were driving many doctors to take jobs overseas.

91裸聊视频淎 lot of doctors are moving to Australia -91裸聊视频� not just because of the pay, but also the work-life balance is better,91裸聊视频� she said.

have strained the already stretched health service still struggling to recover from backlogs created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Nurses, ambulance crews and senior doctors have reached pay deals with the government, but the union representing junior doctors has held out, and negotiations broke down late last year. The government says it won91裸聊视频檛 hold further talks unless doctors call off the strike, while the medics91裸聊视频� union, the British Medical Association, says it won91裸聊视频檛 negotiate unless it receives a 91裸聊视频渃redible91裸聊视频� pay offer.

The union says junior doctors91裸聊视频� pay has been cut by more than a quarter since 2008.

91裸聊视频淭he notion that we91裸聊视频檙e hellbent on calling strikes and all we want to do is call strikes is not what we want,91裸聊视频� said Dr. Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the British Medical Association91裸聊视频檚 Junior Doctors Committee. 91裸聊视频淲hat we want is to negotiate an offer we can put to our members and for our members to accept it.91裸聊视频�

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