Thousands of doctors strike in the UK

(CMR) British hospitals have cancelled tens of thousands of appointments and procedures as thousands of junior doctors in England walked out on Monday in a three-day strike over salary.

The strike is the latest involving staff at Britain's state-funded National Health Service (NHS), following walkouts by nurses, paramedics and others demanding a pay rise that better reflects double-digit levels of inflation, Reuters reported.

NHS England National Medical Director Stephen Powis said emergency care will be prioritized but routine appointments, surgeries and urgent cancer treatment could be affected by the protest.

“This is likely to be the most disruptive set of industrial action days that we've seen all winter. It is going to be a hard three days and it's going to be quite challenging,” Powis said during a radio interview.

Approximately 61,000 junior – or trainee – doctors are a part of the 72-hour stoppage from 7 am on Monday in pursuit of a 26% pay rise.

 “What worries me most is that there’ll be fewer medical rounds on the wards than usual and that one or two consultants will have a lot of beds to look after, and may also have to keep an eye on people in A&E, and so may not be able to see every patient every day the way we expect these days,” one hospital chief executive told the Guardian.

“Therefore patients whose health is deteriorating could get missed. There is a risk of us missing opportunities to intervene with people and prevent them coming to harm, because we just won’t have the number of bodies on the ground from a medical perspective that we usually do,” he added.

One hospital chief executive said: “What worries me most is that there’ll be fewer medical rounds on the wards than usual and that one or two consultants will have a lot of beds to look after, and may also have to keep an eye on people in A&E, and so may not be able to see every patient every day the way we expect these days.

“Therefore patients whose health is deteriorating could get missed. There is a risk of us missing opportunities to intervene with people and prevent them coming to harm, because we just won’t have the number of bodies on the ground from a medical perspective that we usually do.”

Workers have been protesting across Briton for months demanding pay raises to keep pace with soaring inflation, which stood at 10.1% in January. That was down from a November peak of 11.1%, but is still the highest in 40 years, according to AP.

Scores of others in the public sector, including train drivers, airport baggage handlers, border staff, driving examiners, bus drivers and postal workers have all walked off their jobs to demand higher pay.