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Doctors in England are set to stage a five-day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay.

Walkout Information

The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November.

Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all doctors in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government.

Causes of the Walkout

Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, pressing the health secretary to end the crisis of unemployed physicians.”

“We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.”

He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to see that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.”

“We hoped the government would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the health service.”

Who Are Resident Physicians?

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

More details are expected soon.