MORE than 2,500 consultants, GPs and senior doctors have delivered a letter to Downing Street saying this week’s all-out strike by junior doctors will not put patients at risk as they will cover for their junior doctor colleagues.
In the letter addressed to prime minister Cameron and health secretary Hunt, senior doctors said they are disappointed that negotiations between their junior colleagues and the government have broken down.
They wrote: ‘As senior clinicians who deliver healthcare on the frontline on a daily basis, we understand their frustrations and their actions. Stretching an already limited resource across (seven) days does not improve patient care, rather (it) diminishes it, and will also result in the demoralisation of an entire generation of junior doctors. We are keen to work with you to improve patient care, but this will come with clinical engagement, not disempowerment.’
They warned in the letter delivered to Downing Street on Saturday that training, continuity of patient care and junior doctors’ work-life balance will suffer under the new contract, which will lead to a worsening retention crisis within the NHS.
The senior doctors assure: ‘We, the senior specialists, will keep the NHS safe for our patients and your constituents, despite much publicity to the contrary. Not only are we duty-bound to do so, but we will gladly provide this emergency cover to ensure that the juniors can take this action with the complete confidence that their patients are safe.’
The letter also counters criticism of the strike by the General Medical Council, which had issued tough new guidance to doctors on their responsibilities during industrial action.
Among the prominent signatories are: Clare Gerada, the former chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners; Clive Peedell, the co-leader of the National Health Action party; Peter-Marc Fortune, the president elect of the Paediatric Intensive Care Society; and Raman Uberoi, the president of the British Society of Interventional Radiology.
Peedell said: ‘We fully support the junior doctors strike because the imposed new contract will have catastrophic long-term consequences for patient care. There is already a shortage of junior doctors and serious rota gaps in key emergency services. The new contract will actually discourage young doctors from choosing the highly pressured emergency specialties, worsening the current situation.’
Prof Nigel Standfield, the head of the postgraduate school of surgery at Imperial College, London, said: ‘This government lacks insight. Its health service policy is in ruins and failure has nothing to do with the dedicated workforce trying to maintain an NHS by hardwork and passion. Gross underfunding with financial wastage, poor non-clinical and specialist advice, and top-heavy management need to be urgently reviewed. Talk to the juniors and resolve this immediate crisis by diplomacy.’