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NHS junior doctors to stage five consecutive days of strikes in September
There are some 55,000 junior doctors in England, about a third of the medical workforce.
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“They’ve not listened to the rejection of the contract and we’ve been left with no other choice than to take further industrial action”.
This time hospital managers have had a lot less notice than they did when junior doctors in England last staged walkouts in April.
Dr Porter said it was not the case that all GP and consultant representatives were opposed to the strike action.
The government says 100,000 operations and about a million appointments around the country will be cancelled.
They contend the contract cuts their pay and argue the health service already runs seven days a week, and say budget cuts have stretched the NHS dangerously thin.
During his BBC interview Mr Hunt insisted “I’m prepared to have talks at any stage”.
He felt the junior doctors were in a bind, because if the strikes were carried out with the minimum harm and disruption to patients, as is always promised, they will have little impact.
Strikes earlier this year saw hundreds of appointments cancelled across Lincolnshire’s hospitals, with a number of operations also being postponed.
In May, the BMA and the government reached a deal to end the standoff but its members then voted to reject the new terms and conditions. If Mr Hunt withdraws imposition and re-enters negotiations, he can call off the strikes.
It claims the government is refusing to acknowledge junior doctors’ concerns and is continuing with plans to impose the contract in October.
Keith Taylor, a Green MEP for the South East, accused Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of “incompetence” and pledged to “stand in solidarity” with junior doctors.
“And the third reason, we felt it was unjust in its implication that junior doctors do not put patient safety first and foremost”.
“Most of our foundation year job plans for junior doctors are compliant with both versions of the contract, although it is more complicated in other groups of junior doctors”.
But there are now growing questions about the level of support there is amongst the wider profession for the strikes, despite the BMA saying it is “absolutely behind” the decision for further action.
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said the body was shocked and saddened that the BMA council had voted to support the strikes.
The BMA said it will call off the strikes if the Government agrees to stop the imposition.
Owen Smith, Labour leadership candidate, said: “This situation has been brought about by a combination of chronic underfunding, a botched reorganisation and the worst Health Secretary in the NHS’s history”.
The British Medical Association, representing junior doctors, said that the decision was made at a special meeting on Thursday.
“The crisis in the NHS is deepening, with closures of hospitals and key departments across the country while almost all waiting times are rising”.
The Royal College of Physicians warned recently that the NHS will face an “extremely hard autumn”, even before the latest strikes, because of difficulties filling gaps in the rota.
She added: “It is not too late to change course”.
The dispute is over a new contract that the government announced would be imposed from the summer.
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“We need to find a way to put the NHS back on the road to recovery and avert this strike, it is clear the Health Secretary is unable to do so”, he said.