Junior Doctors in the UK to Stage Five-Day Strike in November
Medical professionals in England are set to stage a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up about half of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health secretary to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to understand that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, giving recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information are expected shortly.
