Junior Physicians in England to Begin Five-Day Strike in November
Medical professionals in England are set to stage a five consecutive day strike next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
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 government, urging the health secretary to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to understand that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, giving recent graduates a raise of only £1 per 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 patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
More details are expected shortly.
