Hospital doctors in England hit out yesterday at a perceived “brain drain” from the country’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS) as they began their longest strike action yet in a protracted pay battle.
Junior doctors started joining picket lines as part of an initial 72-hour walkout to be followed by a further six-day strike from January 3.
The total nine-day action is aimed at pressuring health bosses and the government to offer a better deal by severely limiting services at the busiest time of year.
The doctors say they have been forced to maintain their industrial action, which began earlier this year, over a failure to address a host of issues, mostly related to years of below-inflation pay.
Britain has been hit by walkouts across various sectors as decades-high inflation…
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Cape Times (Digital) - 1 Issue, 2023-12-21