Junior Physicians in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in the UK are preparing to begin a five-day strike next month, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up about half of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health minister to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to see that a agreement 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 coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details are expected soon.
