3000 surgeries cancelled as British doctors strike

Junior doctors joined the walkouts on Wednesday in many cities around the country, including London, Sheffield, Manchester. ”Last weekend, thousands of us took to the streets of London and Bristol to show that our fight for a properly negotiated contract continues. (Today) we raise our voices again, on hundreds of picket lines across England,” said Johann Malawana, BMA junior doctors committee chair, in a message to junior doctors ahead of the industrial action.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, told local media: “Our members are saying to us ‘this really does need to reach a conclusion.’ The ideal conclusion would be for employers to make a fair and final reasonable offer and for the BMA to accept it. ”If the BMA doesn’t accept it, our members are saying to us that the secretary of state has to find a way to bring this to a conclusion. Three thousand operations are being cancelled today, we can’t carry on like this.” Well-known British author J.K. Rowling, who is married to a doctor, said she supported the junior doctors’ strike on her Twitter account on Wednesday.