Junior Physicians in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to stage a five-day strike next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, 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 government, pressing the health secretary to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors 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 general practice.
More details will follow shortly.
