17.02.16
Hunt urged to re-enter contract talks as deal ‘was within reach’ – ATDG
An agreement on junior doctors’ pay and working hours was “within reach” and the government should resume negotiations, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges’ Trainee Doctors’ Group (ATDG) has said in a letter to the prime minister.
The letter, sent yesterday, urges health secretary Jeremy Hunt MP to withdraw the imposed contracts on junior doctors announced on Thursday.
It adds that the negotiations over Hunt’s controversial efforts to introduce longer working hours on weekdays and additional hours on weekends for junior doctors had already been successful in gaining changes, such as safeguards on the number of hours junior doctors work.
The letter warns that consequences of the imposed contract could affect training, recruitment and patient safety and lead to an exodus of junior doctors from England, particularly affecting sectors that already face staffing shortages such as emergency medicine and psychiatry.
It states: “The determination to deliver immediate reform has meant that the final part of those negotiations concerning Saturday working, have been curtailed prematurely. This is particularly distressing as we felt a fully negotiated settlement was within reach.
“The decision to unilaterally impose a contract in opposition to a significant proportion of the total medical workforce has further damaged the morale of an essential part of a profession that already feels undermined and under-valued.
“We once again urge your secretary of state for health to withdraw the imposed contract and complete a negotiated settlement that will provide for the long-term future of healthcare in this country.”
Professor Dame Sue Bailey, the Academy’s chair, has just been appointed by Hunt to lead a review into the relationship between junior doctors and their employers, with the aim of better understanding the longstanding issue of low morale.
But a Department of Health spokeswoman said: “As Sir David Dalton set out in his letter last week, he saw no realistic prospect of a negotiated outcome.
“We have started the process to implement the contract, following calls from the NHS to end the uncertainty and agreement from NHS leaders that this is a fair and reasonable deal.”
Sir David, chief executive of Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, was appointed by Hunt in January to negotiate with doctors on behalf of the government, but failed to reach a settlement and wrote to Hunt urging the government to do “whatever it deems necessary to end uncertainty for the service” after a second 24 hour strike last week.
Prof Derek Bell, president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said: “The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh wholeheartedly supports the excellent work that the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges’ Trainee Doctors’ Group (ATDG) undertakes in representing the views of junior doctors across the UK.
“The College fully shares the concerns that the group has raised in its letter to the prime minister regarding the secretary of state for health’s decision to impose a new contract on junior doctors.
“The junior contract alone cannot be seen as the solution to seven day working, which would require significant investment in staff and services across the sector.”
(Images c. John Stillwell)