Resident Doctors in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are preparing to stage a five-day walkout in November, in protest over jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health secretary to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to see that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the authorities 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 doctors leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information will follow soon.
