Jeremy Hunt has taken his own electoral rhetoric and confused it for a policy
The junior doctor dispute has escalated. 98 per cent voted yesterday to take industrial action with a turnout of 76 per cent. It’s clear the medical profession are eager to express their frustration with the health secretary.
Few could blame them. Jeremy Hunt has tried to bulldoze the profession into capitulation, threatening to impose a new contract without the consent of those who will be affected. This is a disgraceful and disgusting way to treat hardworking and dedicated health professionals.
Those who chose the vocation of medicine live by the principles of the Hippocratic Oath. The decision to take strike action is not one taken lightly. The overwhelming support from within the profession for industrial action, a profession which has not been on strike for 40 years, is a sign of the depth of the anger and disappointment towards the government.
Junior doctors, alongside nurses and paramedics, are at the frontline of the NHS. They work long shifts, every hour of the day, every day of the week, every week of the year. They go to work and face emotional and physical stress, make life changing decisions and care for those who need it the most.
Jeremy Hunt has taken his own electoral rhetoric and confused it for a policy.
He wants to make doctors work fewer hours for patient safety, but also wants junior doctors to work more shifts to cover weekends – which they already work – and pay them less for it.
He claims to be creating a seven-day NHS, as if we do not already have a seven day service. Is there a day when you cannot go to A&E in an emergency?
For Jeremy Hunt this is a down the line cost saving measure. He is going to raise the basic pay but simultaneously cut top-up pay for the weekend and night shifts. This looks like an 11 per cent pay rise but will actually be an overall pay cut.
Jeremy Hunt is also planning to take on other parts of the NHS over pay, including nurses. This plan of negotiating individual contracts could easily be perceived as an attempt to divide and rule.
Morale has felt incredibly low in the NHS as the service struggles under the demands of an ageing population and lack of investment. GPs are requesting certificates to practice abroad at a higher rate than ever.
In London alone, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has found that 8,000 nurse places are unfilled. This is the real threat to patient care but it seems Jeremy Hunt has no plans to tackle it.
There is common ground where both sides can meet, but not while one side is using misplaced macho tactics. Bringing in professional arbitration would go a long way to restoring the trust between the profession and the health secretary.
The only condition should be that the final decision has to be binding, for the doctors and the government.
Dr Onkar Sahota is a member of the Greater London Assembly for Ealing and Hillingdon, as well as a practicing GP in West London. He is chairman of the Assembly Health Committee
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8 Responses to “Why junior doctors are striking”
glynbeddau
Its a pity like the London Media Dr Sahota does not point out this is only happening in England.Jeremy Hunt does not have the powers he’s using there in Wales,Scotland and Northern Ireland . In Wales we have our ow problems and Labour in charge who have mismanaged the Welsh NHS since the formation of the Welsh Assembly .
It is important after 17 years of Devolution people realise England is not the only Nation in the UK
nappy enthusiast
Hunt is not reducing hours; average hours per week to remain the same, yet the maximum in a single week to be reduced (i.e. no more 7 nights of 13 hour shifts in one row, though this is very rare and considered bad practise in most hospitals). What he is doing however is controversially removing the current reporting mechanism that exists to ensure that hour limits are achieved by hospitals, and by increasing weekend working, increasing antisocial and fatigue-inducing grueling shift rotas.
Woo11
Who the hell is this Hunt? He is a man who fell foul of MPs expenses, (wikipedia) and in 2012 of £100,000 in tax avoidance…(The Telegraph) and he says we cant afford an NHS. The man is totally corrupt!
David McKendrick
In Scotland the Junior Doctors contracts are not being changed either.
Hunt claims that patients are more likely to die at weekends. This is a lie. Patients are more likely to die on Wednesdays. If they are ADMITTED at weekends they are more likely to die within 30 days than if admitted on weekdays.
Condelfan
The NHS, same as the rest of the population, must learn to live within its means.
There is no magic money tree.
No-one here wants to talk about the true costs of open immigration, the true impact is is having on all of our lives.
If we could go back to 2000 levels, about five million less customers than today, then the NHS would be in a far better place.
Just saying.