Resident Doctors in England to Launch Five-Day Walkout in November
Medical professionals in England are set to begin a five-day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.
Walkout Information
The BMA stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.
Resident doctors, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the health department.
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 end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.”
“Our survey reveals 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.”
He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the minister to see that a agreement including options to slowly restore the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”
“We trusted the government would recognize that our demands are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the NHS.”
Who Are Resident Physicians?
Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care.
More details are expected shortly.
