Resident Doctors in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Medical professionals in England are preparing to begin a five consecutive day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, urging the health secretary to resolve the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to understand that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our physicians leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
Further information are expected soon.
