Resident Physicians in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five consecutive day strike next month, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health minister to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to see that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors 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 reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians 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.
