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 in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute 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
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health minister to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“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 endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
More details are expected shortly.
