Junior Physicians in the UK to Begin Five-Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are preparing to stage a five-day strike next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations 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 officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to understand that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, giving newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help stop our physicians leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information will follow shortly.
