Junior Doctors in the UK to Stage Five-Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in England are set to begin a five consecutive day strike next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to see that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians 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 shortly.
