Junior doctors march on Downing Street

Thousands of junior doctors marched in London and Bristol at the weekend to voice their frustration with the Government's approach to a new contract for trainees. Junior and senior doctors, other health professionals and the public took to the streets on Saturday to call for the Government to drop its plans to impose a new junior contract. Despite recent weeks of negotiation with the BMA, ministers are still refusing to recognise Saturday working as unsocial hours. The demonstration took place four days before junior doctors are set to take part in 24 hours of industrial action on Wednesday during which they will only provide emergency care.   'Not fair and not safe' Salisbury specialty trainee 6 in obs and gynae Janet Berry attended the London demonstration with her husband Vitali Goriainov — himself an ST4 in trauma and orthopaedics — and their two children. Dr Berry said there had been a lot of spin regarding the reasons behind the frustration felt by junior doctors, and said it was time that health secretary Jeremy Hunt accepted that his plans for a ‘seven-day NHS’ did not add up. She said: ‘We’re here today because we very strongly feel that the contract proposals are not fair and not safe. ‘We think Mr Hunt needs to appreciate that hospitals are already staffed 24/7 for emergency care, and his efforts to promote seven-day working do not take into account the realities of the NHS we work in.’   Staff shortages P...
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news