Hospitals in south west Hertfordshire face major disruption today as junior doctors take to the picket lines for their first ever all-out strike.
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“They want to be in work, treating patients, but by refusing to get back around the negotiating table the government has left them with no choice but to take short-term action to protect patient care in the long term”, said BMA junior doctor leader Johann Malawana.
Last Sunday, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt rejected suggestions of trialling the new contract, and insisted he would impose it.
Medics will again provide no emergency care for patients, a day after more than 20,000 junior doctors walked off the job in protest. “Jeremy Hunt has never worked in a hospital, he’s no idea how to run a hospital”.
“So they’re anxious that this new contract will make their working hours unsafe”.
Junior doctors along the Yorkshire Coast are striking today.
“If you already have an appointment booked for those days which is cancelled we will contact you”.
“A lot of junior doctors are frightened now to even mention money because of the way the government has pushed this campaign of us all been greedy, when in fact there are lots of elements of this contract we have problems with”.
“If they change contracts for doctors then they will change them for the nurses it’s going to be risky for patients destabilise the NHS and is part of the bigger agenda of this government to lead us towards a private healthcare service”.
But hospitals reported they had coped well during Tuesday’s walkout with some saying they were quieter than normal. “It’s the wrong thing to do to go ahead with this strike, and particularly to go ahead with the withdrawal of emergency care – that is not right”.
Less intensive strike action was held earlier in the year.
It said: “This will be the first time in history that junior doctors have completely withdrawn their labour without providing emergency cover”.
Figures released by NHS England showed that 78 per cent of junior doctors took part in yesterday’s strike action, with a walk-out rate of up to 90 per cent in some hospitals.
“We are doing this to protect the future of the NHS”.
Dr. Mark Porter, chairperson of the BMA, said the junior doctors have offered to call off the strike if the imposition of the contract is lifted.
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“This is an unprecedented situation and staff across the NHS have made herculean efforts to ensure continued safe services for patients, which is always our top priority”.
