Junior Physicians in the UK to Launch Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in England are set to stage a five consecutive day walkout in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health minister to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to see that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our physicians departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors 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.
Further information are expected soon.
