Resident Doctors in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month
Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five-day strike in November, in protest over jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
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 crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to see that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the authorities would see that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help stop our physicians leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information will follow shortly.
