Resident Physicians in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Medical professionals in England are preparing to stage a five-day walkout next month, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health secretary to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to see that a deal including options to slowly restore the cuts to pay over several years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the government would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors leaving the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
More details will follow soon.
