Resident Doctors in the UK to Begin Five Consecutive Day Strike in November

Medical professionals in England are set to stage a five-day walkout next month, in protest over jobs and pay.

Strike Details

The BMA announced that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.

Junior physicians, who make up about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department.

Causes of the Walkout

Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health secretary to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”

“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”

He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to understand that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”

“We hoped the government would see that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the health service.”

Who Are Resident Physicians?

Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in primary care.

More details will follow shortly.