Resident Physicians in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are set to stage a five consecutive 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 consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute 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 commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, urging the health minister to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an 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 community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details will follow soon.
