Resident Physicians in England to Begin Five-Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are preparing to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, urging the health minister to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to understand that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
Further information will follow shortly.
