Medical professionals in the UK are set to begin a five-day strike next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, urging the health minister to resolve the crisis of unemployed physicians.”
“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 cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the health secretary to see that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming 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 those we treat and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the NHS.”
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 will follow soon.
