Junior Physicians in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Doctors in the UK are set to begin a five-day strike next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health secretary to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details will follow soon.
