Resident Physicians in the UK to Launch Five-Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in the UK are preparing to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding 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 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see that our asks are not just fair 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 working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details are expected soon.
