Resident Doctors in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to begin a five consecutive 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 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, urging the health secretary to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to understand that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would see that our asks are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
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 primary care.
More details will follow shortly.
