Resident Doctors in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to begin a five consecutive day strike next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health secretary to resolve the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to see that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our physicians departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information will follow soon.
