Junior Doctors in England to Launch Five-Day Walkout Next Month

Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five-day walkout next month, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.

Walkout Information

The BMA announced that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am.

Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all doctors in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike after failed negotiations with the government.

Reasons Behind the Strike

Dr Jack Fletcher stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, urging the health minister to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”

“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This cannot continue.”

He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to see that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a raise of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.”

“We trusted the government would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the community and our patients and would also help stop our physicians leaving the health service.”

Who Are Resident Physicians?

Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in primary care.

More details will follow shortly.