Junior Doctors in England to Stage Five-Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in England are preparing to stage a five-day strike next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to understand that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, giving newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help stop our doctors leaving the health service.”
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.
Further information are expected shortly.
