Junior Doctors in England to Stage Five-Day Strike in November
Doctors in England are set to begin a five-day walkout in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health secretary to resolve the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to understand that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, giving recent graduates 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 interest of the public and our patients and would also help stop our doctors leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
More details are expected shortly.
