Resident Doctors in the UK to Begin Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five consecutive day strike in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “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.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to see that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see 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 doctors departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
More details are expected soon.