Earlier this year, strikes continued in many sectors, including disrupting trains, schools and universities.
The National Health Service has also been the target of strikes, and more strikes involving paramedics and nurses are planned in the coming weeks.
On Sunday, February 19, the head of the British Medical Association (BMA) said the government was on the verge of making a historic mistake by not stopping strikes in the NHS.
At a conference of young doctors in Bristol, BMA chairman Professor Philip Banfield denounced Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Steve Barclay for refusing to abide by union terms.
He threw a “conveyor belt of prime ministers with empty promises to the people” on the NHS that “cut him to the bone and sucked out his brain” – here all dates for the upcoming strike are disputed.
When does the paramedic go on strike?
Ambulance workers, represented by Unite, will strike four days a week from Monday 20 February.
The strikes are taking place in phases, with several regions in England and Wales going on strike first, with employees in Northern Ireland going on strike later in the week.
Unite members in England and Wales subsequently scheduled two more strikes in March, with the full list of dates as follows:
- Monday, February 20 in the East Midlands, North East and Wales
- Wednesday, February 22 in North-west
- Thursday, February 23 in Northern Ireland
- Friday, February 24 in Northern Ireland
- Monday, March 6 in the North West, North East, West Midlands, East Midlands and Wales
- Monday, March 20 in the North West, North East, West Midlands, East Midlands and Wales
People in the affected regions are still advised to use 999 services for emergencies, with strikes only covering non-life threatening calls.
In addition, more than 10,000 rescuers, represented by the GMB trade union, will come out. Monday, February 20The following trusts are affected:
- Southwest Ambulance Service
- Southeast Coast Ambulance Service
- Northwest Ambulance Service
- South Central Ambulance Service
- Ambulance North East
- East Midlands Ambulance Service
- Welsh Ambulance Service
- Yorkshire Ambulance Service
The February 20th strike will also include GMB rescue workers in Wales, as announced on Friday after the Welsh government’s proposal was rejected.
ER workers are on strike over wages, patient safety and staffing levels, with unions saying patient safety on the NHS is already at risk every day as the government isn’t investing enough.
When do nurses strike?
Nurses, represented by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), stage an unprecedented 48-hour strike in March.
With a significant escalation in acrimonious wage and staffing disputes, RCN has called for strikes by emergency room, intensive care unit, oncology and other services previously uninvolved in action.
The strike starts at Wednesday, March 1 at 6:00 and lasts 48 hours, so ends at Friday, March 3, 6 am.
Previous strikes were only held during the 12-hour day shift, but this strike continues.
The RCN members last left the office on February 6 and 7, and also reactivated in December and January.
Employees from 128 services across England will leave, and there will be no “extensive” exceptions this time.
The RCN said it is “working directly to ensure that” previously exempted services such as chemotherapy, dialysis, intensive care, pediatric intensive care and pediatric emergency department are kept to a minimum.
The union expects hospitals to provide such life-saving care by “general staff and other clinical professionals.”
This may include nurses who are not members of the RCN, as well as other healthcare professionals.
Strikes of future doctors?
Tens of thousands of medics are expected to join the NHS strike in March, and the BMA will announce the results of the junior doctors vote on Monday, Feb. 20.
Around 45,000 young doctors in England will stage a 72-hour strike in March that will cause chaos in emergency rooms and lead to the cancellation of 200,000 appointments if the majority support union action.
The move will leave hospitals without emergency care and mark a sharp escalation in the battle between NHS workers and the government.
Anyone below the level of consultant may be referred to as a “junior physician”, from a newly qualified physician to a specialist physician.
Depending on their specialty, they have up to eight years of experience as a hospital doctor or up to three years in general medicine.
More than 125,000 surgeries and appointments were canceled in 2016 as young doctors staged the first full-scale strike in healthcare history, lasting two days.
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.