This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
BMA announces five day junior doctor strike
Hospitals in England have begun strategising plans to prepare for a five day all-out strike by junior doctors.
The strikes are due to take place from 08:00 to 17:00 from 12 -16 September with more dates expected to follow. The news comes after the British Medical Association (BMA) initially backed the government’s new contract deal, but which was then rejected by junior doctors.
The BMA said members did not feel the new contract did enough to reward those who would work most weekends and would be unfair on part-time workers.
Hunt criticised the BMA for being willing to ‘inflict the worse doctors' strike in NHS history on patients, making them absolutely miserable’.
He added: "Perhaps 100,000 operations will now have to be cancelled, around a million hospital appointments will have to be postponed, causing worry, distress and anxiety for families up and down the country."
Dr Ellen McCourt, BMA junior doctors committee chair, argued: “The government has consistently said this is about creating a seven-day NHS, when junior doctors already work weekends and it’s been shown that the Government has no answer to how it will staff and fund extra weekend care.
"With just weeks before the first group of doctors is moved onto the imposed contract, time is running out. This contract will be in place for many years, it will have a direct impact on patient care and whether we can attract and keep enough doctors in the NHS. It is too important to be rushed to meet a political deadline.
“We have a simple ask of the government: stop the imposition. If it agrees to do this, junior doctors will call off industrial action.”
A Department of Health spokesman said: "As doctors' representatives, the BMA should be putting patients first not playing politics in a way that will be immensely damaging for vulnerable patients.
"What's more, the BMA must be the first union in history to call for strike action against a deal they themselves negotiated and said was a good one."
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