Resident Physicians in the UK to Launch Five-Day Walkout Next Month

Medical professionals in the UK are set to stage a five-day strike next month, due to disputes regarding pay and employment.

Strike Details

The BMA stated that junior physicians will walk out 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 taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.

Causes of the Walkout

The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, pressing the health secretary to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”

“Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”

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

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

Who Are Resident Physicians?

Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.

More details are expected shortly.