Resident Doctors in the UK to Launch Five-Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in England are preparing to stage a five consecutive day strike in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health secretary to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the health secretary to understand that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, providing recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
Further information are expected shortly.
