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Jeremy Hunt set to impose new contract on junior doctors
Jeremy Hunt set to impose new contract on junior doctors
(35 minutes later)
Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce that talks to settle the junior doctors dispute have failed and a new contract will be imposed on from 1 August.
Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce talks to settle the junior doctors dispute have failed and a that new contract will be imposed from 1 August, setting the scene for renewed confrontation and the possibility of further strikes.
The health secretary will deliver a statement to the Commons at around midday on Thursday after the government failed to reach a deal with the British Medical Association (BMA).
The health secretary will deliver a statement to the Commons at about midday on Thursday after the government failed to reach a deal with the British Medical Association (BMA), the union representing junior doctors.
A deadline to accept the deal passed on Wednesday night. The government’s chief negotiator, Sir David Dalton, earlier warned this would mean talks had reached “the end of the road”.
A deadline to accept the deal passed over Wednesday night. The government’s chief negotiator, Sir David Dalton, earlier warned this would mean talks had reached “the end of the road”.
In a letter to Hunt, he said the BMA refused to compromise on its demand that all of Saturday working be paid at a premium rate and that it had failed to respond to a “best and final settlement”. He said he was, therefore, advising the government “to do whatever it deems necessary to end uncertainty for the service and to make sure that a new contract is in place which is as close as possible to the final position put forward to the BMA yesterday”.
Dalton added that the position was supported by both the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers as well as chief executives across the country.
Govt chief negotiator David Dalton letter to Jeremy Hunt #juniordoctors pic.twitter.com/WwheF5fjwX
Related: Junior doctors offer free CPR lessons during strike
Related: Junior doctors offer free CPR lessons during strike
Thousands of doctors returned to work on Thursday after staging a second 24-hour strike across England as part of the deadlock over pay and working conditions.
Thousands of doctors returned to work on Thursday after staging a second 24-hour strike across England, which led to the cancellation of almost 3,000 operations. Hunt, backed by Downing Street, is expected to force on England’s 45,000 junior doctors new terms and conditions that they claim are unfair for them and unsafe for patients.
The health secretary, backed by Downing Street, is expected to force on England’s 45,000 junior doctors new terms and conditions that they claim are unfair for them and unsafe for patients.
The health secretary wants junior doctors – all doctors below the level of consultant – to accept working on Saturdays as part of a normal working week, to help bring about the seven-day NHS the government has pledged by 2020.
Dalton – brought in by Hunt in January as the government’s new chief negotiator in talks with the British Medical Association – was expected to tell the health secretary on Thursday that he sees no prospect of a negotiated settlement to the long-running dispute unless the doctors’ union agrees to give ground on Saturday working.
Two months of negotiations to resolve the dispute faltered this month when the two sides could not reach agreement, especially on the rates for Saturday working. BMA sources say the union is more likely to respond to the imposition of a contract with more industrial actions, including the possibility of an all-out strike, in which trainee doctors refuse to provide cover even in areas of emergency care, such as A&E and intensive care.
Hunt wants junior doctors – all doctors below the level of consultant – to accept working on Saturdays as part of a new normal working week, to help bring about the seven-day NHS the government has pledged by 2020.
Some key activists are pressing for that to be their next move, though the union’s leadership fear that would damage the strong public support the junior doctors have been enjoying.
Dalton claims the BMA has refused to even countenance the possibility and accused them of breaching an agreement reached in November 2015 with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, in which they accepted that they would negotiate on the issue.
Hunt claimed that turnout for Wednesday’s second junior doctors’ strike was lower than the first one in January, with 43% turning up for work. He denied that the government had rejected a “cost-neutral” offer from the BMA that would have resulted in doctors’ basic pay rising by about half the 11% offered – in return for Saturday not being treated as a normal working day.
Two months of peace talks to resolve the dispute faltered earlier in February when the two sides could not reach agreement.
Observers say that after receiving Dalton’s assessment of the situation, the NHS Employers body may give the BMA in effect an ultimatum: to do a deal that includes Saturdays or risk contract imposition.
However, BMA sources say the union is more likely to respond to any such threat by calling a third walkout in protest than by agreeing to such a settlement. Further industrial action could even include the possibility of an all-out strike, in which trainee doctors refuse to provide cover even in areas of emergency care, such as A&E and intensive care. Some key activists are pressing for that to be their next move, though the union’s leadership fear that would risk the strong public support the junior doctors have been enjoying.
Hunt claimed that turnout for Wednesday’s second junior doctors’ strike was lower than for January’s industrial action, with 43% turning up for work.
Hunt said pay rates on Saturdays were the one outstanding issue in the dispute. He denied that the government had rejected a “cost-neutral” offer from the BMA that would have resulted in doctors’ basic pay rising by about half the 11% offered – in return for Saturday not being treated as a normal working day.
“There has been no rejection of any proposals and plans that would deal with this weekend effect that is of such concern to patients and the public,” he told BBC News. He went on to describe the industrial action as “very damaging”, but said the turnout was slightly lower than before.
NHS England confirmed that the 43% figure included doctors who had never intended to strike, such as those working in emergency care. It said 43% of junior doctors – out of a possible 26,000 working on a typical day – had reported for duty on the day shift.
NHS England confirmed that the 43% figure included doctors who had never intended to strike, such as those working in emergency care. It said 43% of junior doctors – out of a possible 26,000 working on a typical day – had reported for duty on the day shift.
Combining junior doctors, other doctors and consultants, the data suggested 72% of the total workforce were in work, it said.
Combining junior doctors, other doctors and consultants, the data suggested 72% of the total workforce were in work, it said.
Hunt said he hoped there would be no need for him to impose the new contract: “It doesn’t need to get to that. And I really hope it doesn’t get to that. In the end we do have to have resolution on this, as lots of people inside the NHS are beginning to say. But the door is open for discussions.”
The BMA’s junior doctors leader, Dr Johann Malawana, maintained that junior doctors remained overwhelmingly opposed to the new contract, with thousands of them attending 160 pickets, showing a “resounding rejection” of an “unfair contract”.
However a No 10 source indicated the government was still ready to impose the junior doctors contract if no agreement could be reached, saying: “We think it is a very reasonable deal … As we’ve said all the way along, we are not going to remove that option from the table and give a veto to the BMA. We’ve certainly gone the extra mile in trying to get a deal and are very disappointed there is a further strike today.”
He added: “Junior doctors already work around the clock, seven days a week and they do so under their existing contract. If the government want more seven-day services then, quite simply, they need more doctors, nurses and diagnostic staff, and the extra investment needed to deliver it.”
Earlier, Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, the umbrella group for NHS trusts, voiced similar sentiment, saying: “If the BMA won’t accept a fair and reasonable offer, then, yes, it is legitimate and sensible for the secretary of state to consider imposition.”
A YouGov poll suggested the public continued to back Wednesday’s strike, blaming the government for failing to settle the dispute. Of those polled, 49% said junior doctors were right to take action and 31% said they are wrong. Similar figures were recorded in November. The poll found more people putting the blame on the government (45%) than the BMA (12%), while 30% blamed both.
NHS Employers, which is taking part in the negotiations with the BMA and the Department of Health, urged the BMA to compromise.
The BMA’s junior doctors leader, Dr Johann Malawana, maintained that junior doctors remained overwhelmingly opposed to the new contract, with thousands of doctors attending 160 pickets, showing a “resounding rejection” of an “unfair contract”.
“Junior doctors already work around the clock, seven days a week and they do so under their existing contract,” he said. “If the government want more seven-day services then, quite simply, they need more doctors, nurses and diagnostic staff, and the extra investment needed to deliver it.”
As junior doctors formed picket lines at hospitals around the country at least 2,884 non-urgent operations had been cancelled, as well as an unknown number of consultations at outpatient clinics.
A YouGov poll suggested the public continued to back the strike, blaming the government for failing to settle the dispute. Of those polled 49% said junior doctors were right to take action and 31% said they are wrong. Similar figures were recorded in November. The poll found more people putting the blame on the government (45%) than the BMA (12%), while 30% blamed both.
At the gates of St George’s hospital in Tooting in south-west London, doctors handed out leaflets, turquoise stickers and lanyards with the caption “one profession”, while some passing motorists beeped in support.
Sophie Herbert, who works in A&E, said the dispute was not just about the new contract. She said: “This is a much bigger issue which the government is intentionally hiding from the media. It’s about the privatisation of the NHS. In 2012 the Health and Social Care Act provided a legal route for the privatisation of the NHS. This has already resulted in contracts being sold off to private providers. But the majority of voters do not want the health service sold off and cherish the NHS.”
At Royal Hallamshire hospital in Sheffield about 40 people were on the picket line. Mohammed Sharif, 26, who is training to be a GP, said : “We are already running on empty and it’s not safe for patients or junior doctors.”
Sona Ghosh, 26, also training to be a GP, said junior doctors were tired. “We’d love to improve services at the weekend, but stretching us out is just not the way to do it.”
The industrial action comes as leaked NHS figures indicate that the number of young medics applying to continue their career in the health service by becoming specialists has plunged to a new low, appearing to support fears that the dispute will hit recruitment.
The BMA in Scotland believes that Hunt’s plans would increase a slow but significant break-up of the once closely integrated NHS as hospital doctors in different parts of the UK will for the first time have noticeably different contracts.
“As we sit here, there are medical students at all five Scottish universities who will end up working at hospitals in England,” said Peter Bennie, chair of the British Medical Association in Scotland, “They’re now seeing a new contract imposed on them with no say on that at all … The solution would be far more reasonable behaviour from the government and a realisation that there are consequences across the UK.”
