Junior Physicians in the UK to Stage Five-Day Walkout Next Month

Doctors in the UK are preparing to begin a five-day walkout in November, in protest over jobs and pay.

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 medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.

Reasons Behind the Strike

The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health minister to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”

“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”

He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to see that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of 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 fair but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the NHS.”

Who Are Resident Physicians?

Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.

More details are expected soon.