Junior Doctors in the UK to Launch Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in England are set to stage a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to see that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details will follow soon.
