Junior Physicians in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month

Doctors in the UK are set to begin a five consecutive day strike in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.

Strike Details

The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.

Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the health department.

Causes of the Walkout

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 resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”

“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. 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 agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”

“We trusted the government would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the health service.”

Who Are Resident Physicians?

Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.

More details will follow soon.