🔗 Share this article Resident Physicians in England to Launch Five Consecutive Day Walkout Next Month Doctors in England are set to begin a five-day walkout in November, in protest over pay and employment. Walkout Information The BMA stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November. Resident doctors, who make up nearly 50% of all medical staff in the NHS, are proceeding with the strike 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 spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health minister to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.” “We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.” He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to see that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, providing newly trained doctors 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 fair but are in the interest of the community and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors departing from the health service.” About Resident Doctors Junior physicians have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice. More details are expected shortly.