Resident Physicians in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five consecutive day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee 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 unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize 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 physicians departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details will follow soon.
