🔗 Share this article Junior Doctors in England to Begin Five-Day Strike Next Month Doctors in England are set to begin a five-day strike in November, in protest over jobs and pay. Strike Details The British Medical Association (BMA) stated that junior physicians will strike for five days in a row from 7am on 14 November 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. Causes of the Walkout The chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee stated, “This is not where we wanted to be. We have spent the last week in talks with officials, pressing the health secretary to resolve the scandal of doctors going unemployed.” “Our survey reveals half of second-year doctors in the UK are facing unemployment, their skills going to waste whilst countless individuals endure long waits for care and shifts in hospitals remain vacant. This cannot continue.” He added, “We talked with the government in good faith, hoping the health secretary to understand that a agreement including options to slowly restore the pay reductions over a number of years, providing newly trained doctors a pay increase of only £1 per 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 public and our patients and would also help prevent our physicians leaving the health service.” About Resident Doctors Junior physicians have anywhere up to eight years’ experience practicing in hospitals, depending on their specialty, or as many as three years in general practice. More details are expected shortly.