Resident Doctors in England to Launch Five-Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in the UK are set to stage a five consecutive day strike in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health minister to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“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 hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next 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 departing from the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
More details will follow shortly.
