Junior Physicians in the UK to Launch Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Doctors in the UK are preparing to stage a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
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 officials, pressing the health minister to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to see that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help stop our physicians leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in primary care.
More details are expected soon.
