Junior Physicians in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Strike in November
Doctors in England are set to begin a five-day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA announced that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health secretary to end the crisis 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 shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to see that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help stop our doctors departing from the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
More details will follow soon.
