Resident Physicians in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month

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

Strike Details

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

Resident doctors, who constitute about half of all medical staff in the NHS, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department.

Reasons Behind the Strike

The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health minister to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.”

“We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst countless individuals wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”

He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the health secretary to understand that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing recent graduates a raise of only £1 per hour for the coming four years.”

“We trusted the authorities would see that our asks are not just fair but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help stop our doctors leaving the NHS.”

About Resident Doctors

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

More details are expected soon.