Striking doctors in England say hospitals haven’t shown an urgent need for them to return to work

By PAN PYLAS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The longest planned strike in the history of Britain’s state-funded National Health Service has entered its second day of six with doctors in England at loggerheads with hospitals over requests for some to return to work to cover urgent needs. The British Medical Association said Thursday that hospitals haven’t demonstrated they had “exhausted” all other sources of staffing before recalling doctors in the early stages of their careers. Hospital managers said filling out the forms to show they were overwhelmed took time and could undermine patient care. Junior doctors form the backbone of hospital and clinic care in England, and they plan to strike until the morning of Jan. 9.