Resident Doctors in the UK to Launch Five-Day Walkout Next Month
Doctors in England are set to begin a five-day strike in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health minister to end the scandal 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 millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to see that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians leaving 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 soon.