BMA attacks government’s ’bullying’ contracts approach

The British Medical Association (BMA), has said it is considering all of its options and says that the government’s ‘bullying’ approach to impose a new contract on junior doctors is a ‘total failure’ on ministers’ part.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt claimed he was left with no choice but to act after the BMA rejected the government’s final offer to end the dispute. The latest junior doctors strike ended on 11 February.

Hunt told the Commons: “Along with other senior NHS leaders and supported by NHS Employers, NHS England, NHS Improvement, the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, [chief negotiator Sir David Dalton] has asked me to end the uncertainty for the service by proceeding with the introduction of a new contract that he and his colleagues consider safer for patients and fair and reasonable for junior doctors. I have therefore today decided to do that.”

The move, which has been described as ‘the biggest gamble with patient safety this House has ever seen’ by Shadow Health Secretary Heidi Alexander, left the prospect of more strikes and a refusal to sign contracts.

Johann Malawana, BMA junior doctors committee chair, said: “The government’s shambolic handling of this process from start to finish has totally alienated a generation of junior doctors - the hospital doctors and GPs of the future - and there is a real risk that some will vote with their feet.

“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.”

Chris Ham, chief executive of the King’s Fund think tank, also claimed it was a ‘huge risk’ on Hunt’s part.

He said: “As long as that public support for junior doctors remains in place, the government has an uphill struggle to persuade the public it's doing the right thing at the right time.

"Nobody argues against seven-day working. But there's a really important discussion to be had. Will the junior doctors' contract really help that - or are other things far more important? The government really is entering very dangerous territory."