Resident Doctors in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to stage a five consecutive day strike in November, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all doctors 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 government, pressing the health secretary to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, giving recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors departing from the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
More details are expected shortly.
