Junior Doctors in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in the UK are preparing to begin a five-day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (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 medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health minister to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information will follow shortly.
