Resident Doctors in England to Launch Five-Day Strike in November
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to begin a five consecutive day strike next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health minister to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to understand that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our physicians departing from the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or up to three years in primary care.
More details are expected shortly.
