Resident Physicians in the UK to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Doctors in England are preparing to stage a five-day strike next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, urging the health minister to resolve the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to see that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay over a number of years, giving recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information will follow soon.
