Junior Physicians in England to Launch Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health secretary to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to understand that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay over several years, providing recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information will follow soon.
