Junior doctors call off plans for crippling five-day strikes
JUNIOR doctors last night called off all three of their planned strikes but still threatened “alternative forms of resistance” to a new contract being imposed by the Health Secretary.
Members of the British Medical Association were due to hold five-day walkouts starting on Oct 5 and again in November and December.
But after spending yesterday in discussions, the BMA’s junior doctors committee (JDC) last night announced all industrial action had been called off after a majority vote against.
The announcement came after the committee voted to keep militant junior doctor Ellen McCourt in her post as chairman. Dr McCourt, 32, last night said the JDC still opposed the new contract but that “patient safety is doctors’ primary concern”.
She said: “In light of feedback from doctors, patients and the public, and following a passionate, thoughtful and wide-ranging debate among junior doctors, the BMA has taken the decision to suspend planned industrial action.
“We still oppose the imposition of the contract and are now planning a range of other actions in order to resist it, but patient safety is doctors’ primary concern and so it is right that we listen and respond to concerns about the ability of the NHS to maintain a safe service.
“We hope the Government will seize this opportunity to engage with junior doctors and listen to the range of voices from across the NHS raising concerns about doctors’ working lives and the impact of the contract on patient care.
“If the NHS cannot attract and keep those doctors on whose dedication and professional skills it relies, there will be no recognisable health service in England.”
She added: “Our fight does not end here. For many people this whole dispute has turned on how the NHS will assure quality care over seven days. It has highlighted the need for an open and honest debate led by the BMA on how this will be achieved.
“We call on our colleagues across the medical profession, other healthcare professionals, and the Government and patient groups to engage with junior doctors on this.”
Dr McCourt was elected to the position of interim chairman in July following the resignation of Dr Johann Malawana, when a poll of junior doctors rejected an employment contract he had backed.
A committed union supporter, she was adamant that junior doctors had been left with no choice but to strike and spearheaded the plans for weeklong walkouts, despite previously describing the contract as “safe” and “fair”.
Yesterday she saw off a challenge for the leadership of the committee by two junior doctors, Ben White and Nadia Masood, who are also members of campaign group Justice for Health. Senior doctors and the head of the NHS previously raised fears that lives would be lost if the strikes had gone ahead.