Resident Doctors in the UK to Launch Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in England are set to stage a five consecutive day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health minister to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to see that a deal including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help stop our doctors departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
Further information will follow soon.
