LONDON: Resident doctors in England on Tuesday started a six-day walkout after rejecting an offer the government said would not get better, with the British Medical Association saying it fell short of reversing years of pay erosion and staffing pressures. The strike action during the Easter holiday period is due to run until the morning of April 13 after a 48-hour ultimatum from Prime Minister Keir Starmer passed without agreement.
The government has now withdrawn a pledge to fund 1,000 additional specialty training posts that it said had been contingent on the deal being accepted.
“Walking away from this deal is the wrong decision. It is a reckless decision,” Starmer said at the time.
The BMA represents about 55,000 of the so-called resident doctors — formerly known as junior doctors — who make up nearly half of the medical workforce.
BMA DENOUNCES LONG-TERM PAY EROSION
