Junior Doctors in the UK to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in England are set to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up about half of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
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 officials, urging the health minister to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to see that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help stop our physicians departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
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 primary care.
Further information are expected shortly.
