Junior Physicians in England to Begin Five-Day Strike in November
Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five-day strike in November, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations 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 unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to understand 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 see that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
More details are expected soon.
