Resident Physicians in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to stage a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
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 government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, urging the health minister to resolve 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 millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to understand that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
More details are expected shortly.
