Senior doctors should know better: The five-day strikes will prepare them for life under Hunt’s new contract

Last Updated: September 2, 2016By
Junior doctors on strike in London earlier this year [Image: Xinhua/Barcroft Images].

Junior doctors on strike in London earlier this year [Image: Xinhua/Barcroft Images].

Perhaps ironically, This Writer has been holding off discussing the latest wave of junior doctor strikes because I’ve been ill lately and wanted to be more fully capable of handling the issues with an unclouded mind.

But events are moving too fast to allow that, it seems.

Two thoughts occurred today, listening to coverage of the story:

Firstly, why are any doctors condemning the prospect of five-day strikes? Do they not realise that, once Jeremy Hunt’s new contracts come into force, the number of staff available to do any work will be roughly the same as during the strike action?

Also, it seemed striking that Jeremy Hunt is now the one appealing for co-operation and negotiation. Last summer, he was resolute in his refusal to allow any negotiation at all, except on just one detail out of – how many? 23?

He’s changed his tune!

I realise that some readers may take issue with the tone of this article. Of course it is inaccurate to suggest that Jeremy Hunt’s seven-day-a-week NHS will be as difficult to run as it would be during a five-day strike. It will probably be much worse.

That is why the strike is necessary: For the good of your health.

Senior doctors have voiced strong opposition to the series of five-day strikes planned by their junior colleagues, warning that the action will cause real problems for patients, the service and the profession.

In a surprise statement on Thursday evening, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges – which brings together doctors’ professional bodies – distanced itself from the doctors’ union, the British Medical Association, which has called the strike. The academy was “disappointed at the prospect of further sustained industrial action by junior doctors”, it said in a statement after several agonised hours of deliberation.

“We are acutely aware that the NHS is under extreme pressure at the moment,” it said. “Patient safety and quality of care must be the priority. We know there are genuine concerns about the contract and working arrangements but we do not consider the proposed strikes are proportionate.

Source: Senior doctors condemn junior colleagues’ plan for five-day strikes | Society | The Guardian

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No Comments

  1. jeffrey davies September 2, 2016 at 5:26 am - Reply

    they strike over their working hours but not over the aktions of t4 hmmm they now their doctors nurses are going rogue yet still allow them to prctice hmm hours verses life and death caused by their peoples

  2. Rupert Mitchell (@rupert_rrl) September 2, 2016 at 7:53 am - Reply

    Firstly Mike, I am very sorry to hear that you have been unwell and wish you a very speedy recovery.

    With regard to the senior medics condemning the junior doctors for striking, I just wonder what their attitude would have been when they were “junior”; in fact I don’t because I feel sure that it would have been very similar.

    For those people who may be affected (including myself) I feel very sorry but the blame should not fall on those junior doctors. Just as with so many unjust and unfair decisions made by this government it is necessary to stand up and fight for rights otherwise we will all be living under a dictatorship for ever more.

    I am still waiting for my ballot papers but sent an email yesterday to which I was advised that I would be contacted within three working days.

  3. Roland Laycock September 2, 2016 at 9:17 am - Reply

    This reminds me of the Miners strick Hunt and the tories want to crush the NHS and will try every dirty trick in the book

  4. Zippi September 4, 2016 at 5:15 am - Reply

    Doctors save lives. If we value them, we should support them, there is no third option.

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