Resident Physicians in the UK to Launch Five-Day Walkout in November
Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five consecutive day strike in November, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who make up about half of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike 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 officials, pressing the health minister to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the health service.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details will follow shortly.
