Resident Physicians in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are set to stage a five-day strike in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health minister to end the crisis 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 countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to see that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information are expected shortly.
