Doctors in England stage fresh strike over pay

Hospital doctors in England on Friday launched a new walkout in a dispute with the government over pay in the latest strike action to hit the UK's state-funded National Health Service.

The four-day strike by junior doctors comes amid record patient waiting times due to a large pandemic backlog and strikes across the economy as workers demand pay rises in response to the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. Junior doctors -- physicians who are not senior specialists but who may still have years of experience -- make up about half of the doctors in UK hospitals.

According to NHS figures, close to 778,000 medical appointments have been postponed across the health service in England due to strike action since December. A record 7.6 million people in England were waiting to start routine hospital treatment in June, according to data published by the NHS on Thursday.