Britain's junior doctors striking in contract dispute
February 11, 2016
by Thomas Dworetzky, Contributing Reporter
Love the idea of nationalized health care or hate it, one thing is sure — all is not well in its Camelot, Britain, as thousands of junior doctors ended a second 24-hour strike in a labor dispute with the National Health Service.
The new chapter in a long-running dispute focuses on the latest contract, which Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced he would impose without the okay of the British Medical Association, which represents the physicians. A deadline for its acceptance passed Wednesday.
“The decision to impose a contract is a sign of total failure on the government’s part. Instead of working with the BMA to reach an agreement that is in the best interests of patients, junior doctors and the NHS as a whole, the government has walked away, rejecting a fair and affordable offer put forward by the BMA," Dr. Johann Malawana, the British Medical Association’s committee chair for junior doctors, said in a statement.
“Our message to the government is clear: Junior doctors cannot and will not accept a contract that is bad for the future of patient care, the profession and the NHS as a whole, and we will consider all options open to us,” he continued.
That decision by the secretary is “horribly unfortunate," Junior Doctor Gregory Manning told Newsweek magazine, adding, "As far as we can see, the contract changes as proposed are politically motivated more than anything and there are legitimate concerns they will endanger patients and significantly worsen staff morale.
“You can’t have a meaningful negotiation with the threat of imposition looming,” he said.
What is at issue?
According to the BBC, the crux of the differences are:
• The BMA wants all day Saturday to be paid at 50 percent above the basic rate
• The government is only offering extra pay after 5 p.m.
• But they have offered to top up the pay for those who work regular Saturdays — defined as at least one in four
• Agreement has not been reached on on-call allowances, how limits on working hours are to be policed, and days off between night shifts
• The government has offered a basic pay rise of 13.5 percent
• The BMA has said it is willing to accept between a 4 percent and 7 percent hike in basic pay to cover the weekend pay issue
“Junior doctors already work around the clock, seven days a week and they do so under their existing contract. If the Government wants more seven-day services then, quite simply, it needs more doctors, nurses and diagnostic staff, and the extra investment needed to deliver it. Rather than addressing these issues, the Health Secretary is ploughing ahead with proposals that are fundamentally unfair," said the BMA statement.
According to one doctor, Naadir Ansari, who had been a junior doctor, the work load was daunting. While the work load he faced is no longer the case, in his day it put patients at clear risk, he told the Guardian.
"I used to do 120 hour weeks. I used to do 56 hour shifts. If you were lucky you got to sleep. If you weren’t, you didn’t,” he says.
“I remember walking down the corridor in the middle of the night toward the end of one those shifts and talking to a person next to me who wasn’t really there - I was that exhausted. How can that possibly be safe?”
The new contract, he is afraid, may open the door to a return to such risky hours. It also will drive doctors out of the system, he fears, noting that “of junior doctors finishing their foundation years, 52 percent are going into the NHS, 48 percent aren’t.
“That’s a lot of graduates who aren’t going into the NHS. This is a time when the NHS is in crisis. We don’t have a lot of doctors and we can’t attract them in. Making a contract that’s even worse is not going to improve that.”
To support this supposition, according to a recent inline poll by a junior doctor network, not affiliated with the BMA, of 1,045 junior doctors, 922 said they were prepared to quit when asked if they were “prepared to consider resignation in the face of imposition of the contract in its current form.”
A YouGov poll after the latest strike has indicated that the public largely supports the doctors, according to The Guardian. It found 49 percent supporting the right to strike vs. 31 percent who thought it wrong. When it came to blame, 45 percent put it on the government, 12 percent on the BMA and 30 percent on both.
The new chapter in a long-running dispute focuses on the latest contract, which Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced he would impose without the okay of the British Medical Association, which represents the physicians. A deadline for its acceptance passed Wednesday.
“The decision to impose a contract is a sign of total failure on the government’s part. Instead of working with the BMA to reach an agreement that is in the best interests of patients, junior doctors and the NHS as a whole, the government has walked away, rejecting a fair and affordable offer put forward by the BMA," Dr. Johann Malawana, the British Medical Association’s committee chair for junior doctors, said in a statement.
“Our message to the government is clear: Junior doctors cannot and will not accept a contract that is bad for the future of patient care, the profession and the NHS as a whole, and we will consider all options open to us,” he continued.
That decision by the secretary is “horribly unfortunate," Junior Doctor Gregory Manning told Newsweek magazine, adding, "As far as we can see, the contract changes as proposed are politically motivated more than anything and there are legitimate concerns they will endanger patients and significantly worsen staff morale.
“You can’t have a meaningful negotiation with the threat of imposition looming,” he said.
What is at issue?
According to the BBC, the crux of the differences are:
• The BMA wants all day Saturday to be paid at 50 percent above the basic rate
• The government is only offering extra pay after 5 p.m.
• But they have offered to top up the pay for those who work regular Saturdays — defined as at least one in four
• Agreement has not been reached on on-call allowances, how limits on working hours are to be policed, and days off between night shifts
• The government has offered a basic pay rise of 13.5 percent
• The BMA has said it is willing to accept between a 4 percent and 7 percent hike in basic pay to cover the weekend pay issue
“Junior doctors already work around the clock, seven days a week and they do so under their existing contract. If the Government wants more seven-day services then, quite simply, it needs more doctors, nurses and diagnostic staff, and the extra investment needed to deliver it. Rather than addressing these issues, the Health Secretary is ploughing ahead with proposals that are fundamentally unfair," said the BMA statement.
According to one doctor, Naadir Ansari, who had been a junior doctor, the work load was daunting. While the work load he faced is no longer the case, in his day it put patients at clear risk, he told the Guardian.
"I used to do 120 hour weeks. I used to do 56 hour shifts. If you were lucky you got to sleep. If you weren’t, you didn’t,” he says.
“I remember walking down the corridor in the middle of the night toward the end of one those shifts and talking to a person next to me who wasn’t really there - I was that exhausted. How can that possibly be safe?”
The new contract, he is afraid, may open the door to a return to such risky hours. It also will drive doctors out of the system, he fears, noting that “of junior doctors finishing their foundation years, 52 percent are going into the NHS, 48 percent aren’t.
“That’s a lot of graduates who aren’t going into the NHS. This is a time when the NHS is in crisis. We don’t have a lot of doctors and we can’t attract them in. Making a contract that’s even worse is not going to improve that.”
To support this supposition, according to a recent inline poll by a junior doctor network, not affiliated with the BMA, of 1,045 junior doctors, 922 said they were prepared to quit when asked if they were “prepared to consider resignation in the face of imposition of the contract in its current form.”
A YouGov poll after the latest strike has indicated that the public largely supports the doctors, according to The Guardian. It found 49 percent supporting the right to strike vs. 31 percent who thought it wrong. When it came to blame, 45 percent put it on the government, 12 percent on the BMA and 30 percent on both.