Resident Doctors in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to begin a five-day walkout next month, in protest over jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health secretary to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to see that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see 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 stop our physicians departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
More details are expected soon.
