Royal college leader condemns contract imposition

A royal college president has criticised health secretary Jeremy Hunt, pictured, over the ‘ill-conceived’ and ’non-negotiated’ junior doctors contract, and says staff ‘deserve to be valued’. After a meeting with Mr Hunt on Thursday, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Neena Modi, said she was ‘dismayed’ by the crisis in the NHS and believes the imposition of the junior doctors contract, in which doctors have no confidence, has alienated the very people on whom the ‘future of the NHS depends’. Professor Modi called for the health secretary to return to negotiations with the BMA and reach an agreed solution. She added: ‘The Government's own equality analysis acknowledges that the contract impacts adversely on parents and those in less than full-time training. 'Paediatricians spend eight years on average, during the peak of their years as parents, in training, working shifts, weekends, and public holidays. 'They do so because they are committed to a career caring for infants, children and young people. They deserve to be valued. ‘We therefore call on HM Government to suspend the imposition of the non-negotiated junior doctor contract, return with the BMA to the negotiating table, provide the investment needed to deliver safe and sustainable seven-day services for children, and work with, rather than against the profession, to achieve the improvements in UK healthcare that we al...
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news