Resident Physicians in the UK to Stage Five-Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to begin a five-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.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, urging the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals 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 health secretary to see that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped 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 prevent our physicians departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information will follow shortly.
