Hunt set for political exit as junior doctors strike

MORE than 20,000 junior doctors are thought to have been on strike yesterday as the Health Secretary admitted this was likely to be his “last big job in politics”.

Figures compiled by NHS England suggest 78% of junior doctors (21,608) who were expected to be working yesterday have not reported for duty. However, NHS England said the figures had not been fully validated, and include those who may be off due to sickness or for other reasons.

During the previous strike earlier this month around 14,600 junior doctors were not at work on each of the two days. Of those, around 12, 800 (88%) were actually on strike, with the remainder absent for other reasons such as sickness, NHS England said.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, left, has insisted the government will not be “blackmailed” into dropping its manifesto pledge of improving seven-day services as the dispute with the British Medical Association (BMA) over a new contract continues.

He denied the government had been looking for a battle with publicsector unions and accused “elements” within the BMA of refusing to reach any compromise agreement.

“The last thing we are doing is itching for a fight,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“Insofar as it is a political strike, I do think there are some elements – not the majority and certainly not the majority of junior doctors – but there are some elements at the very top of the BMA who are absolutely refusing to compromise.”

Mr Hunt acknowledged that his position as Health Secretary was likely to be his last major role.

He said: “This is likely to be my last big job in politics. The one thing that would keep me awake is if I didn’t do the right thing to help make the NHS one of the safest, highest-quality healthcare systems in the world.

“Health secretaries are never popular. But what history judges is did you take the tough and difficult decisions that enabled the NHS to deliver high-quality care for patients? For me, that’s what it’s about.”