Senior doctors' strike disrupts health care in England

Senior hospital doctors in England went on strike last week in their dispute over pay, causing severe disruption to the National Health Service, with consultants warning of further strikes if the government does not enter "meaningful talks".

The two-day strike on Thursday and Friday meant thousands of planned appointments were postponed as services were reduced to Christmas Day levels. The consultants' industrial action followed a five-day walkout by their junior colleagues that ended on Tuesday.

Hospital leaders warned that care would be brought to a "virtual standstill", adding that delayed appointments, which often detect serious health conditions, compromised patients' safety. The senior medics stopped seeing patients and were not available to supervise the work of junior doctors.

The consultants' strike was unprecedented in its severity, reported The Times newspaper, which was deeply critical of the action in a commentary piece that described senior medics as the "gilded elite".

According to a government spokesperson cited by The Guardian newspaper, NHS consultants can earn an average basic salary of more than 100,000 pounds ($128,000) and are able to earn more from lucrative overtime and bonus payments. They also have further potential income from private practices, it said.

Officials cited by The Times said that further strikes could cost the NHS "many billions", and affect efforts to reduce waiting lists.

NHS England claimed the sudden nature of the strike had left hospitals overly stretched, stating that the walkout by senior doctors would have the starkest repercussions of any industrial action this year, reported the BBC.

The British Medical Association, the leading doctors' union, has announced provisional strike dates for consultants in England on Aug 24 and Aug 25. NHS bosses warned of more disruption to health care if such action continues.

Similar to their junior counterparts, consultants are demanding pay restitutions spanning 15 years, citing a real-term decrease of 35 percent in their salaries since 2008.

However, government ministers have refused to comply with the demand. Health Secretary Steve Barclay has countered with a 6 percent raise proposal, which has been dismissed by the BMA.

Recognizing that this offer might need to be slightly enhanced to resolve the potentially hazardous deadlock with the BMA, the government has signified willingness to compromise, yet the union seems inflexible, said The Times.

Chairperson of the British Medical Association consultants' committee, Vishal Sharma, stated that members were feeling "angry" due to years of pay raises below the inflation rate.

Sharma said: "We are undervalued and overworked. This government is failing us and failing patients.

"We hope the government will come back to us and have some meaningful talks, but if that doesn't happen, the mood is really clear. People aren't going to back down and the government needs to take it seriously. If there's no movement from the government, the strikes will be going ahead at the end of August."