Junior Doctors in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Doctors in England are preparing to begin a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health secretary to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to see that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details are expected shortly.
