Junior Doctors in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in England are preparing to begin a five consecutive day strike next month, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health minister to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste 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 see that a deal including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information are expected soon.
