Resident Physicians in England to Launch Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to stage a five-day strike in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health minister to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to see that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help stop our doctors departing from the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians 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.
More details will follow shortly.
