Resident Doctors in the UK to Launch Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to stage a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health minister to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 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 go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to understand that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
Further information are expected soon.
