Junior doctors' strike begins as births face cancellation and funerals delayed

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April 11, 2023 View online 1 / Real cost of junior doctors' strike revealed in leaked documents as births face cancellation and funerals delayed The junior doctors' strike will lead to caesarean births being cancelled, an increase in the number of mental health patients detained, and issues transferring the critically ill for urgent care, according to leaked NHS documents that show that the impact of the 96-hour walkout will reverberate through the NHS for months to come.   The action over pay, which begins on Tuesday, will compromise critical care and major trauma services, while there will even be a delay to funerals because doctors will not be available to issue death certificates.   Patients were warned on Monday to avoid "risky" behaviour and stay away from A&E if possible, while hospital bosses estimated that 350,000 routine operations were likely to be cancelled. Hospitals are expecting as few as half the number of consultants to cover junior doctor shifts as during the previous strike, because of "fatigue" among staff and planned leave over the school holidays. 2 / Louisville shooting: Five killed including gunman after employee opens fire at Kentucky bank 'Within three minutes of being dispatched, officers arrived on scene and encountered the suspect almost immediately, still firing gunshots,' police say 3 / Pentagon military documents leak may have started in gamer chatroom Documents first circulated in January before being shared with wider group in March 4 / Emily Thornberry defends Labour attack ad on Rishi Sunak as Keir Starmer doubles down But unanswered questions remain about Keir Starmer's involvement in drawing up sentencing guidelines 5 / Mother of British Israeli sisters killed in drive-by shooting dies day after their funeral Lucy Dee, 48, dies in hospital after gun attack on cars travelling to the Galilee for family holiday The Big Question Why are junior doctors striking? Junior doctors are about to embark on a four-day strike that is expected to put an immense strain on Britain's ailing health service, with Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, predicting it will be "the most disruptive industrial action in NHS history". The strike will see around 50,000 junior doctors take to picket lines across the country and will commence at 6.59am on the morning of Tuesday 11 April – as the country returns to work following the Easter bank holiday weekend – and continues through Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The junior doctors taking part – who constitute around half of all NHS doctors, according to the health service – are demanding a 35 per cent increase in their wages to correct what they say has been almost 14 years of below-inflation pay rises. 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