Junior Physicians in England to Launch Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Doctors in England are preparing to stage a five-day walkout in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the health department.
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 government, urging the health secretary to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK 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 added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the cuts to pay over several years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors 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 as many as three years in general practice.
Further information are expected shortly.
