Resident Physicians in England to Begin Five-Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in England are set to stage a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
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 end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to see that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help stop our doctors leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
Further information are expected soon.
