Junior Doctors in England to Launch Five-Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in England are preparing to begin a five consecutive day strike in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our physicians departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or up to three years in primary care.
More details will follow shortly.
