Junior Physicians in England to Launch Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to begin a five consecutive day strike in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health secretary to resolve the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to see that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the government would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information will follow soon.
