Resident Doctors in England to Stage Five-Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in England are preparing to stage a five consecutive day strike next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health secretary 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 go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to see that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We trusted the government would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help stop our physicians leaving the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care.
Further information are expected soon.
