Junior Physicians in England to Launch Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month

Doctors in the UK are set to begin a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment.

Walkout Information

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

Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike 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 government, urging the health minister to end the scandal 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 added, “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 several years, giving newly trained doctors a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”

“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the health service.”

About Resident Doctors

Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.

More details are expected shortly.