Resident Physicians in England to Begin Five-Day Walkout Next Month
Doctors in the UK are set to begin a five consecutive day strike in November, in protest over jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused 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, keen for the health secretary to understand that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our asks 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 departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information will follow soon.
