Resident Doctors in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in the UK are set to begin a five consecutive day strike in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health secretary to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to see that a agreement including options to slowly restore the cuts to pay over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a raise 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 interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors 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.
Further information will follow soon.