Resident Physicians in the UK to Launch Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Doctors in England are preparing to stage a five-day strike next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health minister to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to see that a deal including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information are expected shortly.
