Junior Doctors in England to Stage Five-Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in England are preparing to stage a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up about half of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to understand that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help stop our physicians leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
Further information are expected soon.
