Resident Doctors in England to Launch Five-Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in England are set to stage a five-day strike in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike 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 officials, urging the health secretary to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to see that a deal 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 hoped the government would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help stop our doctors departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details are expected shortly.
