Junior Physicians in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to stage a five-day strike in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, urging the health minister to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping 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 next four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
Further information are expected shortly.
