Resident Doctors in the UK to Begin Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Doctors in England are set to stage a five consecutive day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee 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 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 endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to see that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help stop our physicians departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
More details will follow soon.
