Playing politics with the NHS benefits no one

SIR – This week a High Court judgment revealed that Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, is not imposing a contract on junior doctors – and never was (report, September 29).

Earlier this year, however, public and Parliament heard his threats to use his “nuclear option”.

Despite these statements, a civil servant’s last-minute, confidential submission to the court was deemed sufficient evidence of Mr Hunt’s new position – that there is no imposition.

This 11th-hour U-turn meant that Mr Hunt dodged a bullet, claiming a victory with his legal acrobatics.

Yet this brings no comfort to those affected by his actions – tens of thousands of junior doctors who undertook unprecedented strikes, and thousands of patients whose appointments and operations were unnecessarily postponed. All this because we were silly enough to believe, when Mr Hunt said he was imposing the contract, that he was.

What now for patients? Civil servants at the Department of Health have already expressed fears that the new contract risks stretching staff thinner over weekends.

One has to question whether patients will ever see an end to this sorry saga, while politicians continue to promise an expanded health service without the necessary staff, funding or resources to deliver it. Dr Marie-Estella McVeigh Dr Ben White Dr Amar Mashru Dr Francesca Silman Dr Nadia Masood Justice for Health London W2