Resident Physicians in England to Stage Five-Day Strike in November
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to stage a five consecutive day strike in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November 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
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, urging the health minister to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to see that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information are expected soon.
