Resident Physicians in England to Launch Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are set to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, urging the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors 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 cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to see that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay over several years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information will follow shortly.