Why are junior doctors striking – and why could it be the worst NHS strike yet?
Junior doctors are staging a four-day strike from early on Tuesday 11 April until the early hours of Saturday 15 April.
The strikes will bring “immense pressures” to staff and services, NHS England has warned, with people urged to avoid “risky behaviour” that could land them in hospital.
When is the strike?
Junior doctors will strike from 6.59am on Tuesday 11 April to 6.59am on Saturday 15 April – a total of 96 hours.
Up to 47,600 junior doctors who are members of the British Medical Association (BMA) union will walk out.
Why are junior doctors striking?
The strikes are primarily over pay. The BMA said the wage for junior doctors has fallen 26% in the last 15 years, with newly qualified medics making less than a barista in a coffee shop.
It has demanded a 35% pay rise for junior doctors to bring salaries back to 2008-2009 levels, calling this “pay restoration”.
“The lack of investment in wages by the government has made it harder to recruit and retain junior doctors,” the BMA said.
“If junior doctors are forced out of the NHS because of poor pay and conditions, the services we all rely on to look after our loved ones will suffer.”
On the picket lines of the March strike, junior doctors told Sky News why they were striking and described having to borrow money off family for medical exams, watching colleagues leave for better paid jobs abroad and how they were struggling to pay rent.
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Junior doctors demand 35% pay rise
What impact is this going to have on the NHS?
A quarter of a million NHS appointments and operations could be delayed.
The NHS Confederation said patient care “rests on a knife edge” and hospitals could struggle to provide even “basic” levels of safety.
Health leaders said they were having to plan for the worst to protect patient safety, including by cancelling more appointments and elective procedures than they would like to.
It’s being called the worst NHS strike yet – why?
The timing has a lot to do with it – sandwiched between the long Easter weekend and another weekend. Health leaders are worried the effects of the four-day strike could be felt for 11 days.
Thousands of consultants provided cover during the last strike in March, but leaders did not expect a repeat performance as many consultants have annual leave booked over the holidays.
There is also typically higher demand over Easter. Last year there were 37% more NHS 111 calls between Good Friday to Easter Sunday compared with the weekend before.
The NHS Confederation said there was “huge uncertainty” over the level of cover NHS trusts will be able to secure to fill key shifts.
Read more:
Emergency care to be prioritised
‘Huge concern’ over worst NHS strike yet
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Junior doctors set for four days of strike action
Is this the first time junior doctors have gone on strike?
No – junior doctors who are members of the BMA also walked out for 72 hours from 13-15 March.
During the last strike, about 175,000 appointments and operations were postponed.
What does ‘junior doctor’ mean?
A junior doctor is a qualified doctor who has graduated from medical school and is on a training pathway to become a specialist or a GP, according to the BMA.
Full-time training can take between five and 11 years – more if it is done part-time.
Junior doctors make up around 45% of the NHS’s medical workforce and two-thirds of them are members of the BMA.
What has the government said about the strikes?
Health Secretary Steve Barclay accused junior doctors of taking a “militant stance” and timing a four-day strike after the bank holiday to cause “maximum disruption” for patients.
He also said the timing of the walkout would cause “considerable risk to patient safety”.
He described the BMA’s call for a 35% pay rise as “unreasonable”, saying it would result in some junior doctors receiving a pay rise of over £20,000.
“If the BMA is willing to move significantly from this position and cancel strikes we can resume confidential talks and find a way forward, as we have done with other unions,” he added.
UK
Harshita Brella: International manhunt under way for husband after woman’s body found in car boot
An international manhunt is under way for the husband of a murdered woman, whose body was found in the boot of a car.
The body of Harshita Brella was found in east London on Thursday, tens of miles away from her home in Corby.
On Sunday, Northamptonshire Police said they were looking for Pankaj Lamba – who they believe has left the country.
Sky News understands she had been under the protection of a court order designed for victims of domestic abuse.
“Our inquiries lead us to suspect that Harshita was murdered in Northamptonshire earlier this month by her husband Pankaj Lamba,” said chief inspector Paul Cash.
“We suspect Lamba transported Harshita’s body from Northamptonshire to Ilford by car.”
“Fast track” enquires were made after the force was contacted on Wednesday by someone concerned about Ms Brella’s welfare. After she failed to answer the door at her home in Skegness Walk, Corby, a missing person investigation was launched.
Her body was found inside the boot of a vehicle on Brisbane Road, Ilford, in the early hours of Thursday morning.
A post mortem – conducted at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Friday – established she had been murdered.
Harshita Brella, 24, from Corby. Her body was found in a car in east London. Pic: Northamptonshire Police
More than 60 detectives are working on the case, with lines of enquiry including going house to house and property searches, as well as looking at CCTV and ANPR.
“We are of course continuing to appeal for any information that will help us piece together exactly what happened as we work to get justice for Harshita,” said chief inspector Cash.
“I urge anyone listening to or reading this statement, that if you saw anything suspicious in the past week or have any information, no matter how small, please contact us. We would always rather receive well-meaning information that turns out to be nothing as opposed to not receiving it all.”
Pankaj Lamba. Pic: Northamptonshire Police
Force referred to police watchdog
On Saturday, Northamptonshire Police said it had made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct due to previous contact between the force and the victim.
Northamptonshire Police previously said officers had been conducting investigations at three locations: Skegness Walk and Sturton Walk in Corby and Brisbane Road, Ilford, where Ms Brella’s body was found.
East Midlands Special Operations Major Crime Unit (EMSOU) and Northamptonshire Police said they were working “around the clock to establish the circumstances behind her death, including the exact location and timeframe in which it took place”.
State-of-the-art technology has been used to create a voice for King Richard III – giving him a Yorkshire accent.
A digital avatar of the medieval king’s head went on display in front of excited history fans at York Theatre Royal.
Richard III was king of England from 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, at the age of 32.
His remains were found in a car park in Leicester in 2012 by historian Philippa Langley.
Speaking about the recreation, she said: “We’ve got leading experts in their fields who have been working on this for 10 years and so everything has been meticulously researched, meticulously evidenced, so you are seeing the most accurate portrayal of Richard III”.
A team based at Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University created the avatar based on the reconstruction of Richard III’s head with the help of a craniofacial expert.
Experts from various fields helped put the pieces of the puzzle together, including speech and language therapy, dentistry, forensic psychology and archaeology.
His voice has been created by Professor David Crystal, a leading linguist in 15th-century pronunciation. He admitted that it’s impossible to know exactly how he spoke, but this is as close as they will get.
The king was born in Northampton but spent a lot of his life in Yorkshire. His parents were also from the north of England.
Vocal coach Yvonne Morley-Chisholm spent a decade researching how the monarch would have sounded. She worked with the actor Thomas Dennis who was chosen as his body and face were such a good physical match.
Speaking to Sky News, she said people will be shocked at how different he sounded compared with traditional portrayals of the king on stage and screen.
The coach and actor also examined the king’s letters and diary so that “as you pronounced a word that’s how you would write it”.
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The voice shows the change in pronunciation over the centuries – from regional variations to the Queen’s English.
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History fans at the unveiling were delighted with the accent, with one telling Sky News: “Northerners are known to be happy, positive, all those lovely qualities.”
Born in Northampton but a northerner through and through, technology has brought the king’s speech back to life
South Yorkshire Police have warned pet owners to “step up before someone dies” after receiving 13 reports of dangerous dogs in less than 48 hours.
One man was attacked by his own American bulldog in Sheffield on Thursday afternoon, the force said, when he attempted to separate it and a pocket bully inside a property.
The owner suffered lacerations to his face, neck and head, and was taken to hospital, while his dog was seized and remains in police kennels.
Warning: Distressing images below
Another incident saw a woman walking home with her baby in a carrier on her chest, when she was approached by a loose XL bully who began to show aggression and jump up to her baby.
An elderly woman and her grandchild were attacked by another loose dog in Sheffield.
“As dogs causing harm and fear in our communities continues to place significant demand on our force, we’re urging owners to step up, before someone dies,” South Yorkshire Police said in a statement.
Some of the injuries caused by the American bulldog attack. Pic: South Yorkshire Police
The warning comes after 10-year-old Savannah Bentham was killed at her family’s home in North Yorkshire by their dog on 1 November.
Read more:
Murdered woman found in car boot ‘may have been ‘targeted’
How victims of road accidents are being forgotten and failed
Chief Inspector Emma Cheney, leading the work on dangerous dogs across South Yorkshire, said: “Recently we have sadly seen another fatal incident in the UK of a dog causing death.
“People think it won’t happen to them, that their dog won’t cause harm, but it can happen to anyone. Any dog can cause fear and harm and owners who do not step up and prevent harm to our communities will not be tolerated.
“You are responsible for your dog’s actions, and we continue to put people before the courts.
“We only have a limited number of resources, attending dangerous dog incidents takes officers away from other calls. If every owner steps up and makes small changes, we can make a difference.”
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