Resident Physicians in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to stage a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health minister to resolve the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, giving recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help stop our physicians departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or up to three years in primary care.
Further information are expected soon.
