Resident Doctors in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November

Doctors in England are set to begin a five consecutive day strike next month, in protest over jobs and pay.

Walkout Information

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

Junior physicians, who constitute about half of all doctors in the National Health Service, 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, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”

“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”

He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to see that a deal including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”

“We hoped the authorities would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the NHS.”

Who Are Resident Physicians?

Junior physicians 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 are expected shortly.