Junior Physicians in England to Begin Five-Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in the UK are preparing to stage a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health secretary to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to understand that a agreement including options to slowly restore the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
More details will follow shortly.
