Resident Physicians in the UK to Launch Five-Day Walkout in November
Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors 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 stated, “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 doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors departing from the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
Further information are expected soon.
