Junior Doctors in the UK to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in England are set to stage a five-day strike in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to see that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help stop our physicians departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or up to three years in primary care.
More details are expected soon.