Junior Physicians in England to Launch Five-Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are set to begin a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health minister to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to see that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, giving newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our physicians leaving the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
More details will follow shortly.
