NHS needs someone with a mind to listen

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/14/nhs-needs-someone-with-a-mind-to-listen

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As a retired NHS consultant and former independent MP, I share the junior doctors’ frustration at what is happening to the NHS (Opinion, 13 January). The row about weekend working is only comprehensible if the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, does not understand how the NHS works.

We should remember the days when hospitals were managed according to local needs and available resources, by an elected consultant, the hospital matron and an administrator with input from their local community health council. Then we might regain full cooperation from staff and patients.Richard T TaylorKidderminster, Worcestershire

• Jeremy Hunt continues to refer to increased mortality at weekends in pursuing his vendetta against junior doctors. The “weekend effect” has been reported in a number of countries, including Canada, Australia and the US, over the past 30 years and is clearly not specific to the NHS. The data is complex and despite intensive study not susceptible to any simple explanation. There is no firm evidence that a lack of junior doctors is a contributory factor and, even if there were, diverting staff from weekday working would be expected to increase mortality during the week.

If the rationale for the new contract is spurious, the reliance on a manifesto mandate is entirely mendacious. The Conservative 2015 manifesto does not mention contractual arrangements or junior doctors at all, simply affirming that hospitals should be “properly staffed, so that the quality of care is the same every day of the week”. Whatever this means, substantial investment is required, rather than the tightest funding squeeze the NHS has ever experienced. It cannot be achieved at the expense of the working conditions of hospital staff. The government and its acolytes such as the singularly misinformed Matthew d’Ancona (Comment, 11 January), should stop looking for reds under the hospital bed and recognise that junior doctors have been driven to take the only action available to them in the face of government intransigence. Defence of doctors’ working conditions is in the best interests of patients and ultimately the survival of the NHS, on which we all depend.Dr Anthony IsaacsLondon

Related: Department of Health adviser 'gagged' in Sky interview on junior doctors' strike

• NHS England said that 40% of junior doctors went in to work anyway, and in Sandwell hospital doctors returned to work ignoring the BMA’s call for a strike (Report, theguardian.com, 13 January). But the agreement by the BMA and junior doctors was that those in emergency roles would attend hospitals in the first phase of this strike. If the health secretary didn’t know this, it shows how much attention he gives to the problem.

Another good example of arrogance and lack of democracy was the gagging of Sir Norman Williams (Report, theguardian.com, 14 January). If this conflict is to be resolved, someone with a mind to listen to the other party should step in. Dr Macherla RadhamanoharHornchurch, Essex

• The BMA’s admirable, if tardy, support for a strike to defend the NHS is hardly going to bring down the government. It hasn’t the numbers. Can I suggest inviting patients to spend £3 or so to become registered supporters, and get a vote on privatisation?Sara ClarkeCambridge

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