Resident Doctors in England to Launch Five-Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in England are set to begin a five consecutive day strike in November, in protest over jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “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 England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the health secretary to see that a agreement 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 next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help stop our doctors departing from the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details will follow shortly.
