Junior Doctors in England to Begin Five-Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, urging the health minister to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to see that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the government would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help stop our doctors departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
Further information are expected shortly.
