Resident Physicians in the UK to Begin Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in England are preparing to stage a five-day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations 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 officials, urging the health minister to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to see that a deal including options to slowly restore the cuts to pay over several years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details will follow soon.
