Junior Doctors in England to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November

Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five-day strike in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.

Walkout Information

The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.

Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action 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 government, urging the health minister to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”

“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”

He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to see that a deal including options to slowly restore the cuts to pay over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”

“We trusted the government 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 leaving the health service.”

Who Are Resident Physicians?

Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or up to three years in primary care.

More details are expected soon.