Resident Doctors in England to Launch Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are set to stage a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health secretary to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to see that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information will follow soon.
