🔗 Share this article Junior Doctors in the UK to Launch Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month Doctors in the UK are set to begin a five-day strike next month, in protest over jobs and pay. Walkout Information The BMA stated that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am. Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government. 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 government, pressing the health minister to end the crisis of doctors going unemployed.” “We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.” He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, hoping the minister to see that a agreement offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay over a number of years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per hour for the next four years.” “We hoped the government would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the best interests of the public and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians departing from the health service.” About Resident Doctors Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice. Further information are expected soon.