Junior doctors ‘support strikes’ in ballot over NHS contracts

“The protections that prevent mistakes being made when doctors work dangerously long hours will be removed”, NHS doctor Tom Riddington told IBTimes UK.

Junior doctors from Merseyside hospitals took to the streets of Liverpool to drum up support for their cause, collecting 482 signatures on a petition.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the strikes – the latest stage of a fierce dispute over pay and conditions regarding a new contract for doctors in England – were “totally unwarranted” and would harm patients.

It would be the first time in the history of the NHS that junior doctors have staged an all-out strike.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has proposed three days of strikes if doctors vote for industrial action in the bitter row with the Government, with the ballot result announced on Thursday.

If there is a Yes vote, junior doctors will only provide emergency care for 24 hours from 8am on December 1, followed by full walkouts from 8am to 5pm on December 8 and 16. It is thought only emergency care will be provided at hospitals in this scenario.

But the BMA said the government must remove the threat of imposing the new contracts on junior doctors before Malawana returns to negotiations “The BMA has been clear that we want to get back around the negotiating table”, a spokesperson for the union said.

“It sounds like an oxymoron when talking about industrial action, but we genuinely want to minimise any disruption to other NHS staff and, above all, to patients”.

But Hunt has warned that care will be put at risk if the strikes go ahead as planned in December, telling the House of Commons that walk-outs would make it “very, very hard” to avoid an impact on patients.

The Prime Minister insisted all junior doctors working legal hours would not be made worse off by the new contract but clinicians say they will have to work longer hours for less pay.

In a letter to the BMA today, he wrote: “The current contract does not fairly reward staff or protect patients”.

Junior doctors are not just unhappy with the content of the contract proposals, they also object to the way in which the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt is attempting to deliver them.

The 34-year-old public health registrar, who was meeting the public with colleagues in Sheffield this weekend, said a few people were confused over Mr Hunt’s 11 per cent “pay rise” announcement but were cautious about believing it, however she was able to explain this is not a pay rise at all.

This motivated several healthcare groups and leaders to urge trainee doctors to accept the new contract – including NHS Providers, NHS Confederation and NHS England’s medical director, Sir Bruce Keogh.