JUNIOR doctors told News Line yesterday that they were definitely voting for strike action and are very confident of winning the ballot which begins today.
Junior doctor Roshana Mehdian said: ‘I call on colleagues to turn out and vote. Just read what Jeremy Hunt said and they will see for themselves he hasn’t addressed any of our main concerns properly.’
Responding to Hunt’s claim yesterday that he was offering junior doctors an 11% pay rise, she continued: ‘If he had a true desire for meaningful negotiations he wouldn’t have released this in the manner that he has done.
‘It is evidence to us all that he is putting on a show just before we are likely to have the first doctors strike in 40 years as a result of his unsafe and unfair conduct. ‘It’s quite clear that Hunt’s move against junior doctors is to set a precedent to move ahead with unsafe and unfair proposals for all other healthcare professionals, including nurses, physiotherapists, radiographers and all ancillary staff.’
Junior doctor Anna Warrington said: ‘It’s pure spin, there is not an 11% pay rise for junior doctors, the contract still represents a pay cut. Moreover and more worryingly, Mr Hunt has failed to address junior doctors’ concerns about patient safety which will be damaged by this contract. I am confident that my colleagues will see this for what it is and not be taken in by it. Real doctors are not fooled by spin doctors.’
Yesterday, junior doctors received backing in a letter signed by 371 emergency consultants, on behalf of 402 senior doctors in A&E; 368 consultants and 34 other senior A&E doctors (non-trainees). It warns that Hunt’s attacks will trigger a staffing crisis in A&Es and casualty departments will be forced to close.
Their letter warns that the new contract is ‘unsafe for patients and unfair for doctors’. ‘We fear greatly for the wellbeing of our patients and staff, and our ability as a specialty to provide excellent emergency medical care to the public,’ it says. A&E Departments are already under enormous pressures. The current proposed contract changes may just be the tipping point to cause many A&E services in this country to collapse and some A&E departments may be forced to close,’ warns the letter.
Dr Johann Malawana, BMA junior doctors committee chair, said yesterday: Jeremy Hunt has repeatedly changed his position on pay and just last week was caught out trying to gloss over the truth when he said that no doctor would have their pay cut, only hours later to admit that those working the longest hours would in fact see a reduction in pay. The BMA and junior doctors have been clear that we want to reach a negotiated agreement with the government on a contract that is good for patients, junior doctors and the NHS.
‘In order to do this we have said, repeatedly, that the government must remove the threat of imposition and provide the concrete assurances junior doctors have asked for on a contract that is safe and fair. We are clear that without the assurances we require, the BMA will be left with little option but to continue with our plans to ballot members.
‘The government have so far failed to provide these reasonable assurances, preferring instead to engage in megaphone diplomacy and plough ahead with plans to impose a contract that would be bad for patients as well as junior doctors.’