Resident Physicians in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in the UK are preparing to begin a five-day strike next month, in protest over jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to understand that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details are expected shortly.
