Resident Physicians in the UK to Launch Five-Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to begin a five consecutive day strike next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, urging the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians 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 cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information are expected soon.
