UK junior doctors strike outside London hospitals
STORY: The strike is the latest involving staff at Britain's state-funded National Health Service (NHS), following walkouts by nurses, paramedics and other workers demanding a pay rise that better reflects double-digit levels of inflation.
The NHS will prioritize emergency care during the strike, which could come at the cost of routine appointments, surgeries and even some urgent cancer treatments, NHS England National Medical Director Stephen Powis said.
The trade union - the British Medical Association (BMA) - says starting pay for junior doctors can be as low as 14.09 pounds ($17.04) per hour, one pence less than the top level of pay for a barista at British coffee chain Pret A Manger. Health minister Steve Barclay on Friday invited the BMA for formal pay talks.
