Junior Physicians in the UK to Stage Five-Day Walkout Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health minister to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see 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 doctors departing from the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
More details are expected shortly.
