Junior Doctors in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Doctors in England are set to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health minister to resolve the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the government would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details will follow shortly.
