🔗 Share this article Resident Doctors in the UK to Launch Five-Day Walkout Next Month Medical professionals in the UK are preparing to begin a five consecutive day walkout in November, due to disputes regarding jobs and pay. Walkout Information The BMA stated that resident doctors will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November to November 19 at 7am. Junior physicians, who make up about half of all doctors in the NHS, are taking this action after failed negotiations with the government. Reasons Behind the Strike Dr Jack Fletcher commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have been negotiating for the past week with officials, urging the health secretary to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.” “We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and hospital shifts go unfilled. 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 pay reductions over several years, giving recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the next four years.” “We trusted the authorities would see that our demands are not just reasonable but are in the best interests 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, based on their field, or up to three years in general practice. More details will follow shortly.