Junior doctors are going on strike again this Wednesday as talks with the government over new contracts failed to produce an agreement.
Advertisement
Instead the BMA again called on Jeremy Hunt to accept its own proposed pay model and withdraw his threat to force through changes. Of the 278 junior doctors rostered to work at the hospital today, 124 are in work.
Thousands of junior doctors have walked off t…
In a statement to the Commons, Mr Hunt said the BMA had proved “unwilling” to show flexibility and compromise. The survey of more than 800 people, conducted by Ipsos Mori and the Health Service Journal, found that 66% supported the action, while 64% said the Government was more at fault for the dispute continuing this long and 13% said the blame lies with junior doctors.
Under it, Saturdays from 7am to 5pm will, for the first time, become part of the normal working week for all 45,000 junior doctors. The BMA rejects this and says Saturdays should attract a premium rate of pay.
“He has asked me to end the uncertainty…by proceeding with the introduction of a new contract…”
Forcing through changes to the junior doctors contract is completely the wrong thing for the Government to be focusing on at this critical time in the future of the NHS.
GP practices will be open and working as normal.
Junior doctors at the start of a 24-hour strike place balloons as they set up their picket line outside Great Ormond Street Hospital for children in London, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016.
He said there was an “overwhelming consensus” that the standard of weekend services is “too low with insufficient senior clinical decision makers”. We have now had 8 independent studies in the last 5 years identifying higher mortality rates at weekends as a key challenge to be addressed.
Welsh health and social services minister Mark Drakeford said England’s doctors were welcome over the border.
He said, “This attack is not just about junior doctors-it’s about all health workers and those in the public sector. Jeremy Hunt needs to stop hiding behind his desk in the Department of Health and get back round the negotiating table”.
A poll has found that two-thirds of adults in England support the strike. That will infuriate trainee medics – all those below the level of consultant – as they have resisted during recent negotiations any suggestion of Saturday becoming part of “plain time”, the hours for which they are paid only at their basic rate. I think the ideal conclusion would be for employers to make a fair and final reasonable offer and for the BMA to accept it.
“More strikes now look likely”.
Advertisement
“The government is trying push through cuts across the welfare state and the NHS is the jewel in the crown”. If that happens, it will be clear that the blame lies with the Government, not the doctors.
