Junior Doctors in the UK to Begin Five-Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to begin a five consecutive day strike in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health minister to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to understand that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the government would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details will follow shortly.
