Junior doctors’ strike suspended for talks


A junior doctor

Following the involvement of the conciliatory body ACAS in talks between the Department of Health and the British Medical Association (BMA), planned walkouts in December have been suspended.

Thousands of junior doctors in England had planned to walk out over a contract that is unfair for doctors and unsafe for patients. Disgruntled medics pushed to the point of burnout were frustrated with a contract that was going to make them work more hours for less pay.

Financial penalties for hospitals who overwork doctors were to be scrapped and those who took time out to have children or undertake research would be financially penalised under the new contract. The new contract would have hit those hardest, in specialties like emergency medicine and general practice which are already difficult to recruit to, threatening the very fabric of the NHS.

An unprecedented 98% of junior doctors on a 76% turnout voted in favour of industrial action and contingency plans were in place for a safe and effective strike up and down the country.

On 30 November, the day before the first strike was planned, ACAS issued a statement to say that “the BMA agrees to temporarily suspend strike action and the Department of Health agrees to temporarily suspend implementation of a new contract without agreement.”

Vote

The BMA have confirmed that all members will now be able to vote on a new contract before it is agreed.

Reaction among junior doctors has been mixed. Some are disappointed that we have lost an opportunity to show our unity and strength. The impact of the strike has still been felt as cancelled clinics and elective surgery couldn’t be rearranged at such a late stage and this risks making us look weak and divided. Many others are heartened, however, that Jeremy Hunt has been forced to make some concessions. Although the details of the contract are unknown at this stage, union members will now have an opportunity to vote on it.

In over ten years as a medical student and junior doctor I have never seen such a show of strength and unity. The level of support from our colleagues, patients and the public has been overwhelming with thousands signing an online petition to value junior doctors and NHS staff.

A new generation of doctors has been politicised and a new feeling of solidarity is growing among NHS staff. This new level of confidence must be built up as we take on all the Tories’ attacks on the NHS – not just the junior doctor contract but the disgraceful removal of bursaries for nursing students (see page 2) and continued funding cuts up and down the country.


A nurse practitioner

As a nurse practitioner working in a large teaching hospital I was preparing flasks of coffee to take to junior doctors picket lines on 1 December. But at the last minute the junior doctors strike was postponed.

Health minister Jeremy Hunt is a hated person in the NHS and I believe he will soon be going the same way as his predecessor.

We need the doctors to carry on fighting as it will be the nurses’ unsocial hours next. Hunt refused to go to ACAS, but was left with no choice in the end.

He tells us that this will lead to a seven day NHS, but then tells us that working Saturdays and late evenings are not unsocial.

We must continue to support the junior doctors as this is the thin edge of the wedge and the dismantling of the NHS. It is time to fight for the NHS.