Junior Physicians in the UK to Launch Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in England are set to stage a five-day walkout in November, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, urging the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to see that a deal including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
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.
More details will follow shortly.