I read a while back that it's to insulate the paper from any potential defamation lawsuits, the quotes are there to ensure the difference between "we believe the strikes are harming patients also this person says they must stop" and "this person believes the strikes are harming patients and also says they must stop"
It's actually very common practice in the UK, most headlines make use of quotations to endorse a position by means of quoting an opinion and providing context to that opinion.
In this specific case it is of course bullshit, the language of the headline is deliberately worded to incite anger against the healthcare professionals and the quotes are added to preserve the emotive qualities of the headline when read by the layperson while insulating the paper from legal risk.
rumckle@aussie.zone 9 months ago
Yes, the health secretary, it literally says so in the headline.