🔗 Share this article Junior Physicians in England to Stage Five Consecutive Day Strike Next Month Medical professionals in England are preparing to stage a five consecutive day walkout next month, in protest over pay and employment. Walkout Information The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that resident doctors will walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am. Junior physicians, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the health department. Reasons Behind the Strike The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with government, urging the health minister to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.” “We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.” He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to see that a agreement offering solutions to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, giving recent graduates a raise of just a pound an hour for the next four years.” “We trusted the authorities would recognize that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help stop our physicians departing from the NHS.” About Resident Doctors Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in primary care. More details are expected soon.