Junior Physicians in England to Begin Five-Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are preparing to begin a five-day strike next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher 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 unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to understand that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize 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.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details are expected soon.
