The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

“Severe disruptions to operations”: Tens of thousands of workers are on strike in the British NHS health service

2023-02-06T12:08:16.900Z


Nursing staff and rescue workers are on strike at the same time: In the United Kingdom, a huge strike is paralyzing the health system. Unionists see a historical dimension.


Enlarge image

UK healthcare strikers: Prime Minister Sunak would 'love to give a hefty pay rise' - but won't

Photo:

PETER NICHOLLS / REUTERS

What is arguably the biggest strike in the 75-year history of the National Health Service (NHS) has begun in Britain.

Tens of thousands of nursing staff stopped work on Monday, as did ambulance staff.

The nurses also want to walk out on Tuesday, the paramedics again on Friday.

This means that the health service is facing an unprecedented week, said the service's medical director, Stephen Powis.

"While local services have worked hard to minimize the impact on patients, serious disruptions to operations are inevitable."

The nursing union Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is demanding wage increases that it estimates will match the UK's record inflation of more than 10 percent.

Together with the other strikers involved, Monday's walkout was the largest strike day in the 73-year history of the NHS, it said in a statement.

The government rejects the demands as unpayable.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a recent television interview that he would "love to give nurses a hefty wage increase."

But the government has tough decisions to make and is funding the NHS in other areas, such as providing medical equipment and ambulances.

Dramatic health care situation

The situation at the NHS is considered dramatic.

Millions of people are on waiting lists for surgeries, with thousands more missing out on adequate emergency care every month.

Monday's major strike is mostly focused on England after nurses and some paramedics in Wales called off walkout following a wage offer from the local government.

In England not all paramedics wanted to strike at the same time on Monday, emergency calls should be answered.

The UK has already seen a spate of strikes in various sectors in recent months as a result of record inflation.

Just last week there was a mass strike in which hundreds of thousands of civil servants took to the streets demanding higher wages.

Nurses and paramedics had previously stopped work separately.

Sol/Reuters

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2023-02-06

You may like

News/Politics 2024-01-31T15:09:27.798Z
News/Politics 2024-02-02T07:59:46.530Z
News/Politics 2024-02-01T14:59:15.485Z
Life/Entertain 2024-03-13T04:43:13.148Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.