PM urged to end 'damaging' contract stand-off

The leaders of 13 royal colleges have urged prime minister David Cameron to end the ‘damaging’ junior doctors contract stand-off. The 'eleventh hour' call comes in a letter signed by the clinical leaders which says health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s refusal to return to negotiations, and the resulting impasse, ‘poses a significant threat to our whole healthcare system’. Junior doctors will set up pickets across the country on Tuesday, 26 April and Wednesday, 27 April — the fifth round of industrial action. Last week, the BMA offered to call off the strike if Mr Hunt lifted imposition of the contract, but the health secretary refused. The letter, addressed to Mr Cameron at 10 Downing Street, says: ‘You have spoken many times about your commitment to the NHS. 'In our view, as leaders of the medical profession, the ongoing impasse in the dispute between Government and junior doctors poses a significant threat to our whole healthcare system by demoralising a group of staff on whom the future of the NHS depends. ‘At this eleventh hour, we call upon you to intervene, bring both parties back to the negotiating table, end this damaging stand-off, and initiate an honest debate about the serious difficulties facing UK health services.’   Signatories The letter is signed by: Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Liam Brennan, president of the Royal College of Anaesthetists Dere...
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news