16.03.16
Doctors raise £98,000 in three days to challenge seven-day NHS
A successful crowdfunding campaign to launch a judicial review of health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s plans for a seven-day NHS is a sign of the anger the proposals have inspired among NHS staff and the public.
The Just Health campaign announced that it has more than tripled its initial fundraising target of £25,000 in three days and has now hired a legal team at Bindmans LLP to prepare the investigation into whether the NHS has the staffing and resources to implement seven-day care.
The campaign, organised by London doctors Ben White, Francesca Silman, Marie McVeigh and Nadia Masood after Hunt imposed an unpopular contract on junior doctors to allow the seven-day NHS to go ahead, raised £98,470 on website Crowd Justice since 13 March and has now expanded its goal to £125,000.
On the fundraising page, the doctors say: “The imminent imposition of dangerous contracts affects everybody who works for or uses the NHS. Its immediate and lasting impact reaches further than doctors; it will have a knock on effect on all NHS staff, patients and their families.
“The NHS is already understaffed. The government want a new contract to fulfil their manifesto pledge of a "7-Day" NHS, but they have failed to acknowledge the need for the necessary extra staffing and resources required to make their changes safe. They have not planned or prepared for the devastating consequences. As a result there will be serious gaps in the care provided to patients. Staff will find themselves under even more pressure, their mental and physical health will be impacted. This imposed contract will endanger all lives in the NHS.”
The willingness of members of the public to donate so much money so quickly suggests significant support for the junior doctors against the government.
With more junior doctors’ strikes set to go ahead and another judicial review into the health secretary’s failure to conduct an equality impact assessment of the contract imposition due from the BMA, it looks like far from ending the row, the contract imposition has only fanned the flames.
(Image c. Matt Dunham from PA Wire)