Junior Physicians in England to Launch Five-Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in England are set to begin a five-day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up about half 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 stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, urging the health minister to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to understand that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
Further information will follow soon.
