Junior Doctors in the UK to Begin Five-Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in England are preparing to begin a five consecutive day strike in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health minister to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse 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 hoped the authorities would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
Further information will follow shortly.
