Junior Doctors in the UK to Launch Five-Day Strike Next Month
Medical professionals in the UK are set to stage a five-day strike next month, in protest over jobs and pay.
Strike Details
The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the government.
Reasons Behind the Strike
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.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused 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, keen for the health secretary to see that a deal including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”
“We hoped the government 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 departing from the NHS.”
About Resident Doctors
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice.
Further information will follow soon.