Doctors across Humberside believe the proposed contract is unsafe for patients, unfair for doctors and will undermine the future of the NHS.
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Protesters have argued that the extended hours would negatively affect the quality of patient care, as “overworked” junior doctors would be expected to work up to 90 hours each week. The thought of being forced to work more nights and weekends for the same or even less money is bad.
He asked the PM how much longer he will continue to support Mr Hunt when “virtually the entire health service have no confidence in him”. We don’t want to cut the pay going to junior doctors.
All doctors who are not consultants, including many with up to 15 years experience, are classified as junior doctors.
He has also said that we have been “misled” by the BMA – but, the thing is, junior doctors are taught from the very beginning of medical school how to critically appraise papers, how to see flaws in studies and how to draw our own conclusions.
JUNIOR doctors who are against the Government’s plans to impose new contracts say they feel “devalued and demoralised”. Am I expected to work in a system where my professional judgment with respect to patient care requires routine “authorisation” from management?
“Doctors are at breaking point and so overstretched as it is, everyone is just about coping”.
Dr Nasser said: “Industrial action is not good for the NHS and not good for patients in the short term but we doctors are thinking about the long term”. They will miss out on pay-rises they were entitled to on the current contract and the effect for that individual doctor is that over time, NHS employers would have saved significant amounts on the cost of that doctor’s employment.
Switching our “plain time” contractual hours from 0700-1900 Mon-Fri to 0700-2200 Mon-Sat: How would you feel if your boss suddenly told you you now work 1400-2200 Tuesday to Saturday?
This is pretty self-explanatory, but a further outcome is a paycut as we get paid more based on the proportion of our work that falls into antisocial hours. “We do want to change the pay structures that force hospitals to roster three times less medical cover at weekends as they do in weeks”, Hunt said.
It would also mean the working day would be considered to last up to 10pm every day, except Sunday. Mr Hunt apparently has plans for a better supported “seven day NHS”. “The time is well overdue for ministers to listen to what junior doctors are telling them”. It made me realize how lucky we are to have the NHS, and after months of feeling undervalued by Jeremy Hunt and co, it made me feel so proud to be a junior doctor again. Attempting to fund a service where doctors are now expected to spread themselves more thinly is not a step forward for patient safety. ‘But I’m anxious that this is the beginning of the end for the NHS’.
Medical students, NHS workers and members of the public joined the crowds of junior doctors who marched on Westminster in objection to the planned changes, which are due to be introduced next August.
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In her letter, Godlee wrote that Hunt’s continued use of the figure of 11,000 deaths despite this important caveat “clearly implies that you believe these excess deaths are avoidable”. Doctors in specialist training (ST) receive a salary of between £30,002 and £47,175, while those who make the grade can earn up to £69,325.
