Plea to call off further strikes as junior doctors announce dates for full walkouts

Doctors are being urged to call off further strike dates over the imposition of a controversial new contract, with some calling the decision “disappointing”.

Junior doctors have announced they will stage additional full walkouts between 8am and 5pm on October 5, 6, 7, 10 and 11, November 14 to 18 and December 5 to 9.

The extra strike dates come on top of the five days of action set out on Wednesday, which will take place from September 12 to 16.

The Government and British Medical Association (BMA) remain at loggerheads over the contract weeks before it is brought in, which the Department for Health says will provide a seven-day NHS.

In the wake of the industrial action Prime Minister Theresa May accused the BMA of failing to put patients first and “playing politics” – something doctors have denied.

While the BMA says it is “absolutely behind” the decision for further action, the news of new strikes has not been welcomed by others.

A spokesman for the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said they are “disappointed” at the prospect of further sustained industrial action.

“We are acutely aware that the NHS is under extreme pressure at the moment. Patient safety and quality of care must be the priority,” he said.

“We know there are genuine concerns about the contract and working arrangements, but we do not consider the proposed strikes are proportionate.

“Five days of strike action, particularly at such short notice, will cause real problems for patients, the service and the profession.”

Kathy McLean, executive medical director at NHS Improvement, also questioned the decision to strike and urged junior doctors to call it off.

She said: “Trusts across the country are working hard to ensure they are as prepared as possible in order to provide the best service to patients, who are likely to be severely inconvenienced by this industrial action.

“NHS Improvement will be working closely with NHS England to support them in this. I urge junior doctors to call off this action.”

Mrs May said: “The BMA should be putting patients first – not playing politics.”

BMA chairman Dr Mark Porter said: “I have to say it beggars belief that we can be accused of playing politics in this when the stated reason of the Government proceeding is that it was in their party manifesto. That, to me, is playing politics.”

Six strikes have already taken place across England during the lengthy dispute, causing disruption to hundreds of thousands of patients who have had appointments and operations cancelled.

In May it looked as though a breakthrough had been reached in the dispute after both sides agreed to a new deal.

Then in July, the Government announced it would impose a new contract after junior doctors and medical students voted to reject the contract brokered between health leaders and the BMA.

The BMA said it will call off the strikes if the Government agrees to stop the imposition.

Fears have been raised for patient safety during the walkout, with Niall Dickson, chief executive of the General Medical Council, saying the strike represented a “serious escalation” of the dispute.

He added: “The first priority must be to protect patients from harm.”

But Dr Porter sought to ease concerns, and said staff on duty will be more senior than those they might normally see and that patients “should not be concerned”.

Dr Ellen McCourt, who chairs the BMA junior doctors’ committee, said: “We want to resolve this dispute through talks, but in forcing through a contract that junior doctors have rejected and which they don’t believe is good for their patients or themselves, the Government has left them with no other choice.”

The Patients Association said the decision to strike had triggered “apprehension” among the public.

Chief executive Katherine Murphy said: “This is a devastating blow to patients, and a destructive next step as far as any kind of negotiations go.”

She added: “At least one person a day calls our helpline specifically to ask for support following a cancelled or delayed hospital appointment or surgery.

“This is only going to increase if the Government and BMA don’t take this opportunity to resume meaningful and sincere negotiations to prevent further industrial action.”

Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust health charity, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that the planned strikes would represent a “quite significant step up” in terms of what is likely to be asked of senior doctors tasked with ensuring that care continues during industrial action.

He said: “A number of things seem to have happened in the last set of strikes. Firstly, it does seem that patients with more minor conditions did seem to stay away, and outpatient clinics and elective operating procedures, the planned care, was cancelled so the seniors were able to come in and back fill the work of the juniors.

“I think the question is whether they are able to do that for five consecutive days on three separate occasions and whether they have the appetite for that.”

Mr Edwards said there had been a “quite obvious shift in the opinion” of medical leaders in relation to the strikes.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents frontline NHS leaders, said the planned strikes were “extremely worrying”.

He told BBC Breakfast: “I think it’s very concerning – we’re talking about five days in September, which is just 12 days’ notice to prepare, which is the shortest time we’ve ever had to prepare, and then we’re talking about four sets of five days of strikes.

“That’s equivalent to half a million – 500,000 – cancelled operations and four million lost outpatient appointments, so what we’re talking about is a completely unprecedented scale of disruption and negative impact on patients; it’s extremely worrying.”

He added: “My view is very clear – junior doctors have an absolutely vital role to play in the NHS, it’s absolutely right that they negotiate hard for their interests when their contracts are being changed, but in the end you have to settle these things.”

Junior doctors’ strike: The dispute explained

Junior doctors have announced five days of strike action ahead of a controversial new contract due to come into effect in October.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the walkouts would see 100,000 operations and around one million appointments affected, and described it as “a devastating strike, the like of which the NHS has never seen before”.

Here we answer some of the questions about the dispute.

How long has this been running on?

Discussions surrounding the contract for junior doctors in England started in 2012. Since then there have been various rounds of talks, and in January this year the first in a series of walkouts began.

What is the row about?

A major sticking point was a move by Mr Hunt to cut the number of hours over a weekend for which junior doctors can claim extra pay, offsetting this with a hike in basic pay.

What happened with that?

Negotiations in May resulted in a deal with new terms, including a premium rate of pay for doctors working Saturdays and Sunday if they work seven or more weekends in a year.

Any night shift, on any day of the week – which starts at or after 8pm and lasts more than eight hours, and finishes at or by 10am the following day – will also result in an enhanced pay rate of 37% for all the hours worked.

So why has that deal not been agreed?

The British Medical Association did reach agreement on the above terms, but when they put it to junior doctors it was voted down in July by 58% to 42%, with a 68% turnout. The head of the junior doctors’ committee, Johann Malawana, who had supported the new deal, stepped down after the vote. He was replaced by Dr Ellen McCourt.

So not all junior doctors are opposed to the new deal?

The BMA council has refused to reveal the breakdown of their vote to approve the strike action, but dismissed reports it was a close 16-14 split. BMA chairman Dr Mark Porter said the council spent around three hours discussing the issue before voting. He added: “The council is absolutely behind, as is the rest of the BMA, absolutely behind the decision that has been taken.”

What has prompted the latest strike action?

The BMA said Dr McCourt had written to Mr Hunt during the summer to air the continued concerns of junior doctors about the contract, but had not received a response. They have now said they will strike, unless the new contract is dropped.

What are the main concerns which junior doctors feel still have not been addressed?

Doctors are worried about the impact the contract could have on part-time workers, who they say are mostly women, and those who work the most weekends.

Dr McCourt said: “Junior doctors still have serious concerns with the contract, particularly that it will fuel the workforce crisis, and that it fails to treat all doctors fairly.”

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