Health Secretary blasts junior doctors after they vote to walk out for FIVE STRAIGHT DAYS as BMA members reject contract deal
Members could launch similar strikes every month if agreement cannot be reached with the government
THE HEALTH Secretary has labelled the vote by junior doctors to walk out for FIVE straight days as the "worst strike in NHS history".
Jeremy Hunt blasted the British Medical Association's members who decided to reject the deal agreed between the medical union and the government this year.
The walk-out will take place between the hours of 8am and 5pm on 12 to 16 September.
And there are suggestions the five-day strikes could be called every month if the dispute is not resolved.
A Department of Health spokesperson immediately accused the BMA of "playing politics".
And Mr Hunt defended the agreement which was hammered out earlier this year after a wave of strikes, saying he wanted the junior doctors to "turn away from this path of confrontation".
He said: "The reality is that all of us want to make the NHS the safest, highest quality care and that means being able to promise patients consistently high care across all seven days of the week.
"I actually think in the 24/7 society that we live in, it is a very fair and reasonable deal.
"We did a deal in May, we had exhaustive discussions, I think we made a huge amount of progress and I would like to continue that spirit of dialogue and trust and turn away from this path of confrontation."
And the Cabinet minister added: "People will rightly ask themselves why the BMA, who championed this deal as a good deal for doctors and for patients only in May, are now saying it is such a bad deal that they want to inflict the worst doctors strike in NHS history."
It comes at a time of turmoil in the health service, with some hospitals recently forced to shut their casualty departments due to a “severe shortage” of staff.
However junior doctors are plotting to strike for one five-day block every month for the rest of the year, leaked papers reveal.
The 13-page“confidential” document declares that there should be a “rolling programme of escalated industrial action” starting as soon as September 12.
The British Medical Association’s Junior Doctors Committee is fighting the introduction of a new contract that would see members paid less for working weekends.
Previous negotiations failed and led to a series of strikes between January and April, which disrupted treatment for hundreds of thousands of patients.
It reads: “The proposal for Council’s consideration and vote is for a rolling programme of escalated industrial action beginning with five consecutive weekdays in September (8am-5pm, full withdrawal of labour) followed by further five-day walkouts in each month to the end of the year.”
Joyce Robins, of the campaign group Patient Concern, said: ‘What they are proposing puts people’s lives in danger. People will die and people will suffer. The public has been misled. Junior doctors have already got most of what they asked for. It is very upsetting.”
Ellen McCourt, chairwoman of the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee, said the Government had remained “persistently silent” on the issues that led to the rejection of the contract.
In a letter to members earlier this month, she said: “The JDC Executive has voted to reject the proposed new contract in full and to call for formal re-negotiations on all of your concerns.”
She said the BMA could not “stand idly by” and forcing a contract on doctors would be bad for patients.
“It’s the trade union dispute of this century. That’s no exaggeration. This is about to be ratcheted up by an order of magnitude.”
Daniel Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “Industrial action achieves little or nothing, but places pressure on already stretched teams and services and causes worry, distress and disruption for patients, carers and their families.”
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