Resident Physicians in the UK to Stage Five-Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are set to stage a five-day strike in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors 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, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health secretary to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to understand that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay over several years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors 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 shortly.
