Junior Doctors in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in England are preparing to begin a five-day strike in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who make up about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health minister to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “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 a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors leaving the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.
More details will follow soon.
