Junior Physicians in the UK to Stage Five-Day Walkout in November
Doctors in the UK are preparing to stage a five consecutive day strike in November, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, urging the health secretary to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister 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 only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details will follow soon.
