U.K. Junior Doctors to Hold Talks Thursday to Avert More Strikes
Junior doctors will be providing emergency cover only throughout the day and contingency plans have been drawn up to minimise disruption for patients.
She said: “We all hope that the strike means that these issues get resolved, as the main thing we care about is our patients’ safety”.
The strike has forced the cancellation of about 4,000 operations and outpatient procedures.
Ahead of the reconvened talks at the conciliation service ACAS on Thursday, Hunt said that previous negotiations had made good progress, resolving all but one of the issues put forward by the union.
A trust spokesperson said: “We have contacted all affected patients to inform them of their cancelled appointment due to the industrial action”.
Dr Katie Pass, an anaesthetist trainee at NDDH and on the picket line today, said: “We feel devalued, demoralised and the profession is being attacked”.
Plans for the new contract were drawn up in 2012, but after talks broke down the government announced it would impose a contract from August 2016.
Dr Heather Watson, from GPs Behind Closed Doors on Channel 5, has written a piece for the Daily Mirror explaining the reasons behind the first strike by hospital doctors in 40 years.
Waving banners saying “The NHS needs saving and they’re not listening but we’ve got something to say”, demonstrators formed picket lines outside hospitals beginning in the early morning.
The BMA has accused the Government of continuing to fail to address junior doctors’ concerns about the need for “robust contractual safeguards” on safe working, and “proper recognition” for those working unsocial hours.
The doctors’ union – The British Medical Association (BMA) – say there are 53,000 junior doctors in England.
If there is an all-out strike by junior doctors, nobody will die because of it? A recent BBC / Ipsos MORI poll said 66% of the public support the doctors.
All junior doctors will walk out on strike between 8am and 5pm on Wednesday, February 10.
Sir Robert Francis QC, who chaired the inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal, warned: “Industrial action will not solve their (the doctors’) problems and can only compromise patient safety”.
While it’s true that pay and hours are important factors in the negotiation between the BMA and the department for health, it seems the public is confused over what problems junior doctors actually have with the contract that has been offered to them.