Junior Doctors in England to Launch Five-Day Walkout Next Month
Doctors in the UK are preparing to begin a five consecutive day strike next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health minister to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England 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 is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to see that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would see that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help stop our physicians departing from the NHS.”
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 primary care.
Further information are expected soon.
