Junior Physicians in the UK to Stage Five-Day Walkout in November
Doctors in the UK are preparing to stage a five consecutive day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.
Resident doctors, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.
Causes of the Walkout
Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.”
“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the health service.”
About Resident Doctors
Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information will follow shortly.