Resident Physicians in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to stage a five consecutive day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health minister to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to see that a deal including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details are expected shortly.
