Resident Physicians in the UK to Launch Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are preparing to begin a five consecutive day strike next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
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 officials, pressing the health minister to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “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, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see 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 doctors leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
Further information are expected shortly.
