MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Doctors in England say they'll go on strike tomorrow. Their five-day action coincides with a spike in flu cases there, and the British government says already crowded hospitals are preparing for a, quote, "worst-case scenario." NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from London.
UNIDENTIFIED MEDICAL RESIDENTS: (Chanting) Full pay restoration. Full pay restoration.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Full pay restoration is what medical residents are demanding. They're the rank-and-file doctors who staff hospitals of the National Health Service here. After more than a decade of budget cuts, they got a nearly 30% pay raise over the past three years. But their union, the British Medical Association, says they're still earning less in real terms when you factor in inflation than they did back in 2008.
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HASEENA WAZIR: There is absolutely no increase to headline pay.
FRAYER: Dr. Haseena Wazir is a resident who's been posting videos online criticizing Health Secretary Wes Streeting's latest pay offer.
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WAZIR: Despite saying we were on a journey to pay restoration last year, Wes Streeting has since recommended a real terms pay cut for doctors for the next financial year.
FRAYER: This week, 83% of union members agreed with her, voting to go ahead with this strike despite warnings...
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: NHS leaders say they're facing the worst-case scenario as flu infections surge by 55% in England.
FRAYER: ...That a more virulent, mutated flu strain threatens to collapse the public health service.
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WES STREETING: Already, the number of patients in hospital in England with flu is the highest on record. Ninety-five percent of hospital beds are occupied.
FRAYER: That's Health Secretary Streeting speaking in Parliament. He's urging doctors to, if not cancel their strike, at least postpone it until January, kicking this larger labor dispute down the road. In a newspaper op-ed he wrote that the NHS, a beloved British institution, is in an incredibly precarious situation and that Christmas strikes could be the, quote, "Jenga piece that collapses the tower."
Lauren Frayer, NPR News, London. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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