Resident Doctors in the UK to Stage Five-Day Strike in November
Doctors in England are preparing to begin a five-day strike next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.
Reasons Behind the Strike
Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to understand that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help stop our physicians departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details are expected shortly.
