English doctors announce first industrial action in six decades

People hold placards with the British Medical Association (BMA) logo calling for higher pay as they stand on a picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in central London on June 27, 2024, a week before the general election on July 4. Junior doctors in England are striking just days before the general election as a prolonged pay battle with the Conservative government threatens to derail the campaign’s climax. (Photo: HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)

LONDON, Britain (AFP) — Family doctors in England will hold their first industrial action in 60 years, their union said on Thursday, creating a problem for Britain’s new Labour government as it seeks to end the strikes.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said 98 per cent of more than 8,500 GPs had voted in favour of taking collective action over the funding dispute.

Doctors warn that treatment will begin immediately and could take months.

The union has said it could very quickly “push back” the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) – which is already struggling with years of underfunding and the effects of the Covid pandemic.

The government and the BMA reached a deal this week to end strikes by junior doctors in England – junior doctors, meaning junior consultant doctors working in hospitals.

Labour, elected on 4 July after a landslide general election victory, has made fixing the country’s crisis-hit NHS a priority, pledging to tackle long waiting times for appointments and treatments and the attrition of professionals leaving the service.

Key to this is ending the long-running labour disputes sparked by rising inflation that plagued the previous Conservative administration.

The BMA said that under the new rules, GPs will be able to limit the number of patients they see each day to 25, down from more than 40 as before.

Medical practices will also be able to decide not to perform work that they are formally contractually obligated to perform.

“This is an act of desperation. For too long we have not been able to provide the care we wanted,” said Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of the BMA committee that represents GPs in England.

The BMA said a new contract with GPs, under which services will receive a 1.9 per cent increase in funding in 2024-25, means many GP practices will struggle to remain profitable.

British media reported that the last time GPs took collective action was in 1964.

This action will not affect Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where healthcare is managed by local authorities.

The Government and the BMA on Monday agreed a 22.3 per cent pay rise to end a row with junior doctors that included the longest strike – lasting a total of six days – in the 70-year history of the NHS.