NHS England faces walkout as junior doctors protest Jeremy Hunt’s ‘unsafe

A doctor at Wexham Park Hospital has said that Jeremy Hunt’s proposed changes to junior contracts is the “pathway to privatisation”.

“I’m a doctor and I’m married to a doctor, we have a two-year-old son, and it’s hard enough at the moment to bring up a family with both of us working at least 12-hours a shift”.

We can only deliver a fair and safe contract if the government genuinely negotiates without a constant threat of imposition.

She asked Mr Hunt to clarify the statements he had made in relation to the article “to show your understanding of the issues involved”.

“He’s also promised that the total amount spent on junior doctors’ salaries won’t change, and that on average no doctor will be worse off, “on average” being the key phrase”.

The ballot is a direct response to the government’s threat to impose a new contract from August 2016 in spite of failed talks with the association’s trainee doctors.

The letter, which was co-signed by thousands of fellow doctors and medical students, said: “It appears Mr Hunt deliberately and knowingly misquoted and misinterpreted the conclusions of a medical research publication in an attempt to mislead the other Members of Parliament and the United Kingdom public”.

“Despite the authors’ very clear statements to this effect in the paper and elsewhere, you have repeatedly told MPs and the public via media interviews that these deaths are due to poor staffing at weekends, with a particular emphasis on medical staffing”.

“This clearly implies that you believe these deaths to be avoidable”.

Godlee said that the article, by Nick Freemantle, reported an analysis of 30 day mortality after admission to English hospitals, finding an excess number of deaths amongst patients admitted at weekends – including Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Industrial action is on the cards after negotiations between the government and the BMA broke down.

“The truth is that the junior doctor contract is in no way a barrier to seven-day services, with the vast majority of junior doctors routinely providing care to patients 24/7”. “The time is well overdue for ministers to listen to what junior doctors are telling them”.

Malawana added, longer hours of work will not be imposed to the junior doctors and have confirmed that they will be well paid.

He said: “When you come into hospital, you’ll be met by a Junior Doctor, they’ll treat you, they do everything – the NHS relies on them”.

The government has described the current contracts as “outdated” and “unfair”, pointing out they were introduced in the 1990s.

Not directly. The dispute dates back to 2012, when the Department of Health called for changes to junior doctors’ contracts in order to update terms and conditions that were agreed in the 90s.