Resident Doctors in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Medical professionals in England are preparing to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
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 secretary to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the health secretary to see that a deal including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help stop our physicians leaving the health service.”
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.
Further information are expected soon.
