Junior Doctors in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Doctors in the UK are preparing to stage a five consecutive day strike next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
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 government, pressing the health minister to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts 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 a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our physicians leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information are expected shortly.
