Resident Doctors in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to stage a five consecutive day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
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 officials, pressing the health minister to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to see that a deal including options to slowly restore the cuts to pay over a number of years, giving recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our physicians leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details will follow soon.
