Junior doctors have called off the first of their planned series of five-day strikes after growing alarm from senior doctors and NHS leaders that the action could endanger patients.
In a statement on Monday afternoon, Dr Ellen McCourt, the chair of the British Medical association’s junior doctors committee, said that the doctors’ union was “suspending the industrial action planned for the week of 12 September”.
McCourt told Jeremy hunt, the health secretary, that he now had a month to stop the imposition of the new contract that has sparked such anger among trainee medics in England over the last year. It is due to start being implemented from early October.
However, the BMA is still planning to stage three other five-day- walkouts, in October, November and December, if Hunt does not respond positively.
However, it is unclear what will happen next after the Department of Health’s initial reaction to the call-off did not indicate if Hunt would do what the BMA are urging him to do and suspend the planned imposition of the contract.
A DoH spokesman said only that: “The public will be relieved that the BMA has decided to call off the first phase of these unprecedented strikes, so this is welcome news. But if the BMA were really serious about patient safety, they would immediately cancel their remaining plans for industrial action which, as the GMC says, will only cause patients to suffer.”
Hunt may clarify his position later on Monday, though, when he makes a statement in the Commons on the long-running dispute.
Mc Court added that the BMA decided to call off next week’s planned action, which saw the BMA being heavily criticised by many medical groups including the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, to ensure that safety of care was maintained.
“Patient safety remains doctors’ primary concern. For the first time in this dispute NHS England have told us that a service under such pressure cannot cope with the notice period for industrial action given,” she said. “We have also listened to the concerns of working doctors, patient groups and the public.”
It comes hours after the General Medical Council, which regulates doctors, warned that “harm and suffering to patients” would inevitably result from the action.
The walkouts were due to include even life-or-death areas of care in hospitals such as A&E, surgery, intensive care and maternity services. An estimated 125,000 planned operations were set to be cancelled as another consequence, leading to fears that patients would suffer pain and distress as hospitals would take months to clear the backlog.
The BMA’s move may be a belated attempt to maintain the profession’s year-long unity over the new junior doctors’ contract, which shattered last week with many leading doctors criticising the intended strikes as disproportionate and likely to threaten patient safety. Junior doctors may also be hoping to keep the public on their side in their bitter dispute with Hunt.
They continued to enjoy around 60% public backing despite the eight days of strikes they staged between January and May in pursuit of their claim that the new contract for England’s 54,000 doctors below the level of consultant was unsafe and unfair.
Junior doctors suspend planned five-day strike in September
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