Junior Physicians in the UK to Begin Five-Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to stage a five-day walkout in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November 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 commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health minister to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the cuts to pay over several years, providing recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details are expected shortly.
