Junior Physicians in the UK to Stage Five-Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in England are preparing to stage a five consecutive day strike in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% 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 spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health minister to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to understand that a deal including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize 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.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
Further information are expected shortly.
