Doctors in England to strike for five days in November over pay and jobs row
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that doctors in England will go on strike for five consecutive days in November over jobs and wages.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said junior doctors will strike for five consecutive days, from 7am on November 14 to 7am on November 19.
Junior doctors, previously called junior doctors, make up around half of all doctors in the NHS.
Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the BMA’s resident doctors committee (RDC), said: “This is not where we wanted to be.
“We have spent the last week negotiating with the Government, pressuring the Minister of Health to end the scandal of doctors being unemployed.
“We know from our own survey that half of second-rate doctors in England are struggling to find work, millions of patients are waiting endlessly for treatment, shifts in hospitals are being emptied and their skills are being wasted. This cannot go on.
“We spoke to the Government in good faith, wanting the Health Secretary to see a deal that would include options to gradually reverse the pay cuts over a number of years and give newly trained doctors a pay rise of just half a pound per hour over the next four years.
“We also hoped that the government would find that our demands were not only reasonable but in the interest of the public and our patients, and would also help prevent our doctors from leaving the NHS.
“Restoring better employment opportunities and wages is a credible way forward that will work for doctors, work for the Government and work for our patients.
“The 11th hour letter the Health Secretary sent to us today makes vague promises of some degree of change in jobs and education over the next two years, showing little understanding of the crisis here and now, or any real commitment to fixing it.
“While we would like to reach an agreement, the Government do not appear to be doing so, leaving us with little choice but to call a strike.”
Junior doctors have up to eight years of experience working as a hospitalist or three years in general practice, depending on their specialty.
This is breaking news, more to come…
