Resident Physicians in the UK to Begin Five-Day Strike in November
Medical professionals in England are set to begin a five consecutive day strike in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health minister to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to understand that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the best interests of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
Further information are expected shortly.
