🔗 Share this article Junior Doctors in the UK to Stage Five-Day Strike in November Doctors in the UK are set to stage a five consecutive day strike next month, in protest over jobs and pay. Walkout Information The BMA stated that junior physicians will strike for five consecutive days from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November. Junior physicians, who constitute nearly 50% 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 spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.” “We know from our own survey 50% of second-year physicians in the UK are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.” He continued, “We talked with the government in good faith, keen for the health secretary to see that a deal offering solutions to gradually reverse the pay reductions over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the coming four years.” “We trusted the government would recognize that our asks are not just reasonable but are in the interest of the public and our patients and would also help stop our physicians leaving the NHS.” Who Are Resident Physicians? Resident doctors have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in primary care. Further information are expected shortly.