Junior doctors threaten strike action
 

Jeremy Hunt has condemned what he described as “extreme action” after the British Medical Association (BMA) said junior doctors would take strike action on three days in December.

The health secretary is gearing up for a fierce battle with the profession, despite NHS bosses and leaders of the medical profession warning him that a protracted dispute will seriously disrupt services just when they are under the most pressure.

The BMA said junior doctors would walk out on 1, 8 and 16 December over a new contract Hunt is threatening to impose on them if, as expected, their ongoing ballot approves industrial action.

“Threatening extreme action is totally unwarranted and will harm vulnerable patients. Refusing to talk to a government that wants to improve weekend care for patients and reduce doctors’ hours can only damage the NHS,” said Hunt on Thursday'

Junior doctors, 20,000 of whom staged a protest march in London last month, are furious that the proposed new contract will hugely extend the hours in any week for which they are paid basic rates of pay from the current finish-time of 7pm on weekdays to 10pm and, crucially, will also include Saturday up until teatime for the first time.

I'm supporting the doctors here, what are your thoughts?

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...trike-proposal

The doctors are totally in the wrong.....funny how they never striked or marches about the tens of thousands of additional people who died every weekend through lack of doctors and staff....all these junior doctors want is their double time at the weekend IF they choose to work. theyre selfish. this new deal means they work less hours not more and will save tens of thousands more lives at weekends

The Junior Doctors are totally right and have had enough, Jeremy Hunt has made a massive mess of this and if this PM has any gumption about him at all and does have even the slightest respect for Doctors and the NHS he will move Hunt and hopefully put someone in who at least will 'try' to understand the junior Doctors concerns.

We will lose many of them as they leave to go abroad if this govt doesn't get its finger out and start both listening and more importantly talking 'to' them, rather than 'at' them..

'Hundreds of consultants from the Royal Free London NHS foundation trust have written to the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to express their support for junior doctors and to back possible industrial action.

In a letter to the Guardian, the 505 consultants, who will bear the brunt of any potential strike, say they recognise that junior doctors are an integral part of the health service.


“An empowered, rested, happy and appropriately remunerated workforce across all cadres of medical, nursing and allied health professional staff is essential to sustain high clinical standards in the face of increasingly complex healthcare delivery challenges,” they add.'

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...rs-back-strike

'The NHS is about to be hit by a wave of strikes after junior doctors voted overwhelmingly to walk out in protest at the government’s decision to impose a contract on them which they regard as unfair and unsafe.

In a ballot of more than 37,000 junior doctors in England, organised by the British Medical Association, 98% have voted in favour of full strike action. Ninety-nine per cent voted for action short of a strike.

The decision means that non-urgent services in many hospitals, such as planned operations and outpatient clinics, will have to be cancelled on the three strike days announced so far – 1, 8 and 16 December – as many of the NHS’s 45,000 trainee doctors take action.

Junior doctors – all medics below the level of a consultant – last took strike action 40 years ago, in November 1975, also over a new contract they claimed would lead to them working dangerously long hours.'

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...ote-action-bma

:clap1:

'Hunt wants junior doctors to become more flexible in their working patterns to help deliver the fully seven-day NHS that the Conservatives pledged in the general election and which has become one of their priorities for government. He wants to extend the times of the week known as “plain time”, in which junior doctors are paid only basic rates for working, from the current 7am-7pm Monday to Friday to 7am-10pm on weekdays and from 7am until late afternoon on Saturdays'

Yes Well Said

I'm with the Doctors.If they are expected to work extra and unsociable hours it should be reflected in their pay packet.Just forcing extra hours on them with no insentive is'nt fair and will lead to poor moral and thus a poor and unfriendly service.

Totally agree with them, I don't know what it's like over there but here Junior Doctors are totally over worked and under appreciated

Of course and I love how people get on their moral high horses about it acting like Doctors should just be working all the hours under the sun for no extra pay just because their job is looking after people. As if anyone here would work extra, unsociable hours for nothing

It will lead to deaths and that in turn will lead to loss of faith in the service from the public which will result in 'special measures' and hospitals being gifted to the private sector.... unregulated of course, so any shortcomings don't reflect badly on the shareholders.

Totally with the doctors on this one. The government tried to con them into believing they were getting a pay rise. Fortunately doctors are intelligent enough to work it out!

Its the junior doctors going on strike and so its not all doctors and I've heard from the horses mouth that consultants will be working extra hours on those days.

Urgh him asking the 'moderate' Drs to rebel against the 'militant' Drs?.... Tosspot.

Absolutely right, this deal is also threatened to be imposed if junior Doctors don't accept it.
What a way to deal with such an important group of people.

Jeremy Hunt ably supported by this useless PM and the rest of the govt,has made an almighty mess of all dealings with the Doctors.
The govt have brought the situation to the crisis point it is now, I am 100% solidly with the junior Doctors.

I support the Junior Doctors, their right to strike, and I think a strike was absolutely necessary with the government's refusal to listen to them.

The hours that a junior doctor works in any given week should be limited to a reasonable amount.
Not at all sure how all the hours/wages are actually going to be worked out at.
The shift system/ rota should be paid at whatever is the norm for other workers,
Overtime rates etc for doing extra hours.
Loads of people work on weekends at the same rate if it is part of a rota system and not overtime and they should be treated the same.
Their rate of pay should reflect the importance of their job.

why should doctors be treated any differently to anyone else. They do a job, they get paid. If they don't like it, they can seek alternative employment.

What, because the govt treat everyone like crap doctors should accept this?

Seek alternative employment such as what, private company-owned hospitals? Can you imagine the atrocity if every junior doctor did that.. the NHS would be driven to destruction. We cannot ignore them, for the sake of future generations' health especially those on lower incomes.

Their demands are not unreasonable. Jeremy Hunt is doing another magic trick by raising their pay by 11% while at the same time, docking pay for overtime and non-social hours, as well as night shifts. Their conditions are essentially the same thing rebranded. The whole purpose of this is so the right-wing press can portray the trade unions in a negative light yet again because of strikes, and the reason for these strikes is the government. So if you're going to blame anyone for inconveniences and disruption, it's Hunt who the anger should be aimed at.

disgusting greedy junior doctors.....they just want their double pay at weekends, if people die from neglect here should be charged with manslaughter

No. Disgusting self-serving Jeremy Hunt. He could easily raise the top rate of tax by say, 2%, to pay for many aspects that are being cut under current plans.. but he knows that his party is funded by very rich individuals and he doesn't want to upset them so he continues his austerity programme even though it is proven to have a negative impact on working people while also raising unemployment and thus hindering growth.

We have a right to strike when an employer treats us unfairly in this country, and the junior doctors are exercising that right. We must support them.

The service is stretched beyond capacity as it is, A&E waiting times are well over the target, how is expanding existing Drs and resources going to cope with a 24/7 service?
An 11% sweetener isn't the issue it's just not viable, Hunt is attempting to set them up to fail and they know this.

Yes. Disgusting, greedy junior doctors, who are still striking despite the fact they were presented with an 11% pay rise, which they didn't want or ask for. Oh wait.. maybe it's not about the money after all...

10000s die because doctors wont work weekends....100000s more will die because junior doctors are striking not to work weekends.....these scumbags have blood on their hands