Hunt’s new contract: Junior doctors should walk away and make him stew

Last Updated: February 11, 2016By

[Image: Getty.]

This Blog was right to say Jeremy Hunt was taking a huge gamble with the National Health Service in England (and so was Heidi Alexander who said much the same thing in Parliament).

His decision to impose his unfair, harmful contract must be met with only one response from junior doctors:

They have to walk away.

It seems the contracts will be imposed as current, short-term, contracts expire, so there won’t be any opportunity for legal action over breaches.

But the new contracts are potentially harmful to patients, so the logical solution is for NHS-trained junior doctors to refuse to sign.

They won’t lose out financially because they can always take contracts in countries where patient care is valued – like Wales or Scotland.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Hunt will be stuck in a quagmire of his own making.

The British Medical Association – and all the doctors it represents – should let that happen. The public backlash could be overwhelming, and that could help prevent any government from trying to repeat the travesty that we have been seeing for the past many months.

The alternative is to tell this government – and its successors – that it can do just whatever it wants, to anybody, all the time.

Junior doctor leaders have promised to fight on after the government in England announced it will impose a new contract on the profession.

The British Medical Association said it was “considering all options” as the dispute threatens to escalate further.

It comes after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had been left with no choice but to act – just hours after the latest doctor strike ended.

The union refused to accept a “take-it-or-leave-it” offer on Wednesday.

BMA GP leader Dr Johann Malawana said the contract was “flawed” and they had put forward a “fair and affordable” alternative.

Source: We will fight contract imposition, says BMA – BBC News

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No Comments

  1. autismandate February 11, 2016 at 4:15 pm - Reply

    Those spin tricks.The discussion is going well 99 of the points have been agreed, just 1 remains. Just the one on pay. The 1 point left is 99% of the reason for the Gov introducing a new contract. To cut the money.! Nice one Jeremy. Lucky the Doctors could diagnose your problem.

    • Mike Sivier February 12, 2016 at 4:03 am - Reply

      It isn’t just the pay. It’s the number of hours to be worked. It’s the safety of patients under the proposed regime.
      And it’s probably a lot of other things that haven’t been reported.

  2. NMac February 11, 2016 at 4:47 pm - Reply

    Personally, I believe this is all part of Hunt’s ultimate and nasty aim to destroy the NHS and hand it to his greedy and corrupt friends in the private sector. I hope I am wrong.

  3. Tony Dean February 11, 2016 at 4:50 pm - Reply

    On an individual basis the Junior Doctors can quite legally refuse to sign the new contract and challenge it at tribunal.

  4. mohandeer February 11, 2016 at 7:54 pm - Reply

    “It comes after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had been left with no choice but to act – just hours after the latest doctor strike ended”
    Oh he could act. He could, for instance go back to Osborne and tell him to get back the Corporate Handouts or the taxes due on them, which are for the most part dodged, or he could go after Tax evasion culprits, or he could tax the wealthiest(those with the broadest shoulders – remember?). Any one of these actions could ensure the necessary funding for the NHS and welfare bill, but of course, that wouldn’t suit the Tory pocket, er I mean, agenda.

  5. Bookworm February 11, 2016 at 10:42 pm - Reply

    I agree. Someones got to draw the line for this vile govt and the drs have a better chance than most. They are able to relocate and have a better life. The Tories haven’t got much of a hold over them apart from their reluctance to abandon their patients, however we will suffer more if the drs lose than if they stay and give in. Lets show we’re behind them all the way by a general strike.

    • John Gaines February 12, 2016 at 11:00 am - Reply

      I consider they have gone for Broke, if Doctors accept slavery and Civil Servants accept the theft of their £210Billion Pension Fund, they are the Rulers.

      Help Police! Pension Heist in progress….naw! just like the BBC, they also have been neutered…maybe we could get MI5/6, AFTER ALL ITS THEIR PENSIONS ALSO.

      The Government’s scheme is clever because it is Osborne’s usual mix of sleight of hand concealed beneath a veneer of overdue and necessary reform…
      Note, however, that the LGPS is a funded pension scheme, meaning the money — some £210 billion of it — has come from the contributions of employees and employers, not directly from the taxpayer. It is different from the unfunded schemes of the armed services and the police, where the pensions will be paid directly out of taxes.

      http://www.standard.co.uk/business/anthony-hilton-scandal-of-chancellor-george-osbornes-pensions-meddling-a3178141.html

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