Junior Doctors in the UK to Begin Five-Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are preparing to stage a five consecutive day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am 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 health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health secretary to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the health secretary to see that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, giving recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details are expected soon.
