Resident Doctors in the UK to Stage Five-Day Walkout in November
Doctors in the UK are preparing to begin a five consecutive day walkout in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health minister to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to see that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors 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.
Further information will follow soon.
