Junior Physicians in the UK to Begin Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month

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

Walkout Information

The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will walk out 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 National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.

Reasons Behind the Strike

The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, urging the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.”

“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”

He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the minister to understand that a deal including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over several years, providing recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”

“We trusted the authorities would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help stop our physicians departing from the NHS.”

About Resident Doctors

Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, based on their field, or as many as three years in general practice.

Further information will follow soon.