Resident Doctors in the UK to Begin Five-Day Strike in November
Doctors in England are set to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The 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 nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week 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 facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to understand that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help stop our physicians leaving the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details are expected soon.
