Junior Doctors in the UK to Stage Five-Day Strike in November
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to stage a five-day strike in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health secretary to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians 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 deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per 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 patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information are expected shortly.
