Resident Doctors in the UK to Launch Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in England are set to begin a five consecutive day strike next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health minister to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to understand that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our asks are not just fair but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help stop our physicians leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
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 soon.
