Junior Doctors in the UK to Begin Five-Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to begin a five consecutive day strike next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
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 officials, pressing the health minister to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to see that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would see that our asks are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
More details are expected shortly.
