The United Kingdom’s National Health Service has warned that patients will experience significant disruption as the latest junior doctor strike coincides with the hottest week of the year so far.
The British Medical Association, or BMA, will begin a five-day walkout on Thursday, marking the 11th strike in a pay dispute that began early last year.
Yellow heat health alerts have been issued in numerous regions across the country, and with the strikes happening at the same time, NHS England highlighted that services will be strained and advised people to use them sensibly.
The UK Health Security Agency’s yellow alert signifies that the high temperatures may endanger individuals who are especially susceptible.
The NHS stated that scheduled hospital treatments, such as surgeries and appointments, are expected to encounter major disruption, leading to many cancellations.
NHS medical director, Stephen Powis, said: “This new round of strike action will again hit the NHS very hard, with almost all routine care likely to be affected and services put under significant pressure.”
He added that the ongoing hot weather would likely exacerbate the strain on healthcare services.
The BMA is calling for a 35-percent pay rise to compensate for what it perceives as 15 years of below-inflation pay awards, a demand the government has deemed unreasonable.
Junior doctors, who constitute almost half of the medical workforce, saw their salaries increase by an average of nearly 9 percent in the previous financial year, reported the BBC. The BMA exited negotiations last year when an additional 3-percent raise was discussed.
In a statement released last month after the government announced a general election would be held on July 4, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi said: “We made clear to the government that we would strike unless discussions ended in a credible pay offer. For more than 18 months we have been asking Rishi Sunak to put forward proposals to restore the pay junior doctors have lost over the past 15 years – equal to more than a quarter in real terms.
“When we entered mediation with the government we did so under the impression that we had a functioning government that would soon be making an offer. Clearly, no offer is now forthcoming. Junior doctors are fed up and out of patience.”