Resident Doctors in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in England are preparing to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health minister to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused 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 including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, giving recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information are expected shortly.
