Junior Doctors in England to Stage Five-Day Strike in November
Doctors in England are preparing to stage a five consecutive day walkout in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “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 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 remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to understand that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details will follow shortly.