Junior Doctors in the UK to Launch Five-Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in England are preparing to begin a five-day walkout in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
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 officials, urging the health secretary to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to see that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
Further information are expected shortly.
