Junior Physicians in the UK to Begin Five-Day Strike in November

Medical professionals in the UK are set to begin a five-day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.

Strike Details

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

Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all medical staff 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 stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health secretary to resolve 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 millions of patients endure long waits for care and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”

He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to see that a deal including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, giving recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”

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

Who Are Resident Physicians?

Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice.

More details are expected shortly.