Resident Physicians in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to stage a five-day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help stop our physicians leaving the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information are expected soon.
