Junior Physicians in the UK to Stage Five-Day Strike in November
Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five consecutive day strike next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the health department.
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, pressing the health secretary to resolve the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to see that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise 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 prevent our doctors departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details are expected shortly.
