Junior Physicians in the UK to Launch Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Doctors in England are preparing to begin a five-day strike in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks 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 minister 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 health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to slowly restore 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 authorities would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information will follow shortly.
