Resident Physicians in England to Begin Five-Day Strike Next Month

Doctors in the UK are set to begin a five consecutive day walkout in November, in protest over pay and employment.

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.

Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the health department.

Causes of the Walkout

The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health secretary to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”

“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts go unfilled. This cannot continue.”

He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, providing newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”

“We trusted the authorities would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat 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, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.

Further information are expected soon.