Resident Doctors in the UK to Begin Five-Day Strike in November
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to begin a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health secretary to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the health secretary to see that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
More details will follow shortly.
