Resident Doctors in the UK to Begin Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Doctors in the UK are preparing to begin a five-day walkout in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health minister to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to see that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, giving newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or up to three years in primary care.
More details are expected shortly.
