Resident Doctors in England to Launch Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to stage 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 proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, giving recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in primary care.
More details are expected soon.
