Thousands of doctors in England on strike

Doctors demonstrating outside St Thomas’ Hospital in central London. Pic/AFP

Thousands of doctors in England are staging their 11th walkout on Thursday in a long-running dispute with the government over pay and working conditions, disrupting hospital services just days before the UK general election.

The five-day strike by junior doctors - those in the early years of their careers - shines a spotlight on the troubles besetting the chronically underfunded National Health Service, Britain's state-funded public health system, a topic that is a top concern for voters going to the polls on July 4.

Junior doctors, who form the backbone of hospital and clinic care, have been locked in a pay dispute with the government since late 2022. They went on strike for six days in January - the longest in NHS history - and hospitals had to cancel tens of thousands of appointments and operations.

The latest strike begins Thursday and ends on Tuesday, just two days before voters cast their ballots to choose a new House of Commons.

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