Resident Doctors in England to Begin Five-Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in England are set to stage a five-day strike next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health secretary to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to see that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
Further information are expected shortly.
