Thousands of senior physicians in England have launched their first significant protest in a decade, rejecting the government's meager wage increase, causing even further disruptions to health services.

The walkout is the largest since 2021 and has caused thousands of appointments to be rescheduled. Only emergency treatment and just a little of regular labor, or referred to as Christmas Day cover, have been spared.

The British Medical Association (BMA) poll for the current strike received over 24,000 votes in June, with the great majority (20,741 or 86 percent) voting in favor.

The strike comes just two days after junior physicians finished a five-day protest over wages.

Read next: 250,000 operations postponed due to doctors' strike: NHS

Nick Hulme, head of the Ipswich and Colchester Hospitals confirmed that 50 percent of senior physicians are on strike, and as a result, they have ceased seeing most patients and will not be available to monitor younger doctors' work.

London NHS Trusts have warned that other clinical staff will be unable to substitute for consultants, the NHS's most senior clinicians.

Although the government has promised a 6% pay increase for consultants, the BMA has condemned the proposal as "derisory," pointing out that physicians' real-term take-home income has fallen by more than a third over the previous 14 years.

The government has enacted strike laws in an attempt to control industrial strikes in the country's critical industries, compelling employees to maintain a baseline level of service during the strike period or risk firing.

Experts are concerned that the UK is seeing a "sickness explosion" that is costing the economy nearly $19 billion annually.

According to a recent assessment by health professionals, Britain has "among the worst population health in Europe" as a result of obesity, excessive drinking, and significant health inequities.

Earlier this week, new research revealed that people in the UK have been compelled to extract their own teeth at home because they cannot access or afford an NHS dentist.

The Health and Social Care Committee's investigation of NHS dentistry recommended "urgent and fundamental reform," citing evidence of pain and misery that is “totally unacceptable in the 21st century." The paper quotes a YouGov survey of 2,104 persons taken in the United Kingdom in March 2023.