🔗 Share this article Junior Physicians in England to Launch Five-Day Strike Next Month Doctors in England are set to begin a five-day strike next month, in protest over jobs and pay. Walkout Information The British Medical Association (BMA) announced that junior physicians will walk out for five consecutive days from November 14 at 7am to 7am on 19 November. Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% of all medical staff in the National Health Service, are proceeding with the strike after unsuccessful talks with the health department. Reasons Behind the Strike The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee commented, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of unemployed physicians.” “We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and hospital shifts go unfilled. 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 offering solutions to slowly restore the cuts to pay 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 fair but are in the best interests of the public and our those we treat and would also help prevent our doctors leaving 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 up to three years in primary care. More details will follow shortly.