Resident Doctors in England to Begin Five-Day Strike in November
Doctors in England are preparing to stage a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations 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 officials, urging the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to see that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing 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 asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
More details will follow shortly.
