Resident Physicians in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month

Medical professionals in England are set to begin a five-day strike in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.

Walkout Information

The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to November 19 at 7am.

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

Causes of the Walkout

The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health minister to resolve the crisis of unemployed physicians.”

“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. This cannot continue.”

He added, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the next four years.”

“We hoped the government would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the NHS.”

Who Are Resident Physicians?

Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in primary care.

More details will follow soon.