Thousands of doctors in Britain walk off the job in their longest-ever strike
ABC News
Thousands of doctors have walked off the job in Britain, the start of a six-day strike that's set to be the longest in the history of the state-funded National Health Service
LONDON -- Thousands of doctors walked off the job in Britain on Wednesday, the start of a six-day strike that was set to be the longest in the history of the state-funded National Health Service.
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 managers' organization NHS Providers, said the strike came at one of the toughest times of the year for the health service, “immediately after the Christmas and New Year period because of the pressures the demands, and of course we’ve got flu, we’ve got COVID.
“So there’s going to be an impact on patients that will be significant,” he said.
