Junior Doctors in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in the UK are preparing to stage a five consecutive day strike in November, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, 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 end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“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 go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to see that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing recent graduates 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 reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help stop our doctors departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details are expected soon.
