Resident Physicians in the UK to Begin Five-Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to stage a five consecutive day walkout in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to see that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our physicians departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details will follow shortly.
