Resident Doctors in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the health department.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to see that a deal including options to slowly restore the cuts to pay over several years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
More details will follow soon.
