Junior Physicians in England to Stage Five-Day Strike Next Month

Medical professionals in England are preparing to begin a five-day strike in November, in protest over jobs and pay.

Walkout Information

The BMA stated that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.

Resident doctors, who make up about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the government.

Reasons Behind the Strike

The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, urging the health secretary to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”

“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This cannot continue.”

He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to see that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”

“We hoped the authorities would see that our asks are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our physicians leaving the NHS.”

Who Are Resident Physicians?

Junior physicians 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 shortly.