Resident Doctors in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in England are preparing to stage a five-day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “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 scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals 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 minister to understand that a deal including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our asks 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 departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
Further information will follow soon.