Resident Physicians in the UK to Launch Five-Day Strike in November
Doctors in the UK are preparing to begin a five-day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
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 about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health secretary to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to understand that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an 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 community and our patients and would also help stop our physicians departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details are expected shortly.
