Junior Physicians in England to Begin Five-Day Strike in November

Medical professionals in the UK are set to begin a five consecutive day strike in November, in protest over jobs and pay.

Strike Details

The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.

Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, 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, urging the health minister to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”

“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”

He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to see that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”

“We trusted the authorities would see 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 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.