🔗 Share this article Junior Doctors in the UK to Stage Five Consecutive Day Walkout in November Doctors in England are preparing to begin a five consecutive day strike in November, due to disputes regarding pay and employment. Walkout Information The BMA announced that junior physicians will walk out for five days in a row from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November. Resident doctors, who make up about half of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after unsuccessful talks with the health department. Reasons Behind the Strike The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health minister to end the scandal of unemployed physicians.” “We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.” He added, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the health secretary to see that a deal 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 hoped the government would see that our demands are not just fair but are in the interest of the community and our patients and would also help prevent our doctors leaving the health service.” Who Are Resident Physicians? Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice. More details will follow shortly.