Resident Physicians in England to Begin Five-Day Strike in November
Doctors in the UK are preparing to stage a five-day strike in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health minister to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to see that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details will follow shortly.
