Resident Doctors in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November
Doctors in England are preparing to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.
Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “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 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 negotiated sincerely, keen for the minister to understand that a deal offering solutions to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”
“We hoped the government would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.
Further information will follow soon.
