Junior doctors consider further strikes in contract dispute

Junior doctors are considering further strikes in September after rejecting the health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s proposed new contract.

Ellen McCourt, who chairs the British Medical Association’s (BMA) junior doctors committee, said that by standing together they could demand the government takes them seriously.

Strikes took place between January and April after junior doctors failed to come to an agreement with the government. In July the government announced it would impose a contract after junior doctors and medical students voted to reject a deal brokered with the BMA.

In a letter to members released on Thursday night, McCourt said the government had remained “persistently silent” on the issues she said had led to the rejection of the contract.

— #hellomynameisEllen (@McCourtEllen) August 11, 2016

The road ahead will not be easy,by standing together we speak with one voice,our unity remains our strength @TheBMA pic.twitter.com/DAuXhf5fjS

She said: “In light of this, the JDC executive has voted to reject the proposed new contract in full and to call for formal renegotiations on all of your concerns.

“In response to the government’s silence, JDC exec has today made a formal request for a special meeting of BMA council to authorise a rolling programme of escalated industrial action beginning in early September.”

She said the BMA could not stand idly by as the date for imposition drew nearer, and argued that forcing a contract on doctors that they did not have confidence in would be bad for patients.

Daniel Mortimer, the chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “Industrial action achieves little or nothing but places pressure on already stretched teams and services and causes worry, distress and disruption for patients, carers and their families.

“Over the last two months we have been talking with the junior doctors committee and have, along with the Department of Health and others, responded positively to their concerns regarding the guardian role and whistleblowing.”

He said employers were serious about “positive engagement” with the BMA.

Junior doctors consider further strikes in contract dispute