🔗 Share this article Junior Physicians in England to Stage Five-Day Strike Next Month Doctors in England are preparing to begin a five-day strike in November, in protest over pay and employment. Walkout Information The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will walk out 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 unsuccessful talks with the health department. Causes of the Walkout The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “We did not want to reach this point. We have spent the last week in talks with government, urging the health secretary to resolve the crisis of doctors going unemployed.” “We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their talents being unused whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This is a situation which cannot go on.” He continued, “We negotiated sincerely, keen for the health secretary to see that a agreement including options to gradually reverse the cuts to pay over a number of years, providing recent graduates a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.” “We trusted the government would recognize 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 physicians leaving the health service.” About Resident Doctors Resident doctors have as much as eight years of experience working as a hospital doctor, based on their field, or up to three years in primary care. Further information will follow soon.