08.10.15
NHS Providers urges junior doctors to talk to Hunt over fresh assurances
NHS Providers is urging junior doctors to “respond positively and collaboratively” to the health secretary’s pledge to develop the details of the new contract to ensure that the “great majority” of trainees are “at least as well paid as they would be now”.
This is the latest in a long-standing dispute between junior doctors and the Department of Health following an announcement by NHS Employers that a new contract would be imposed on the trainees, despite it being perceived as harmful.
The dispute had already resulted in fears of a junior doctor exodus, strike balloting, protests outside Westminster and a “surge” in trainee doctors joining the BMA.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has now written to Dr Johann Malawana, chair of the junior doctors’ committee, following a meeting between the two.
He said that he shares “exactly the same aims for the new contract” as junior doctors did, and concluded the four-point letter by saying he had asked NHS Employers to develop the details of the new contract.
Hunt added: “In addition, although the current proposal does not provide protection for those whose pay reduces when they change jobs, under an agreed move to a new contract we would be willing to consider such protection for individual doctors who would otherwise lose out.
“In any scenario, I can give an absolute guarantee that average pay for juniors will not reduce. I have already given my assurances that GP trainees will not be disadvantaged compared with the current system. I can also say that it is our intention that flexible pay premia would be used to support recruitment into shortage specialties such as accident and emergency medicine and general practice.
“We would also include pay protection for doctors who change to shortage specialties and to support agreed academic work.”
NHS Providers welcomed the letter perceived as an encouragement to re-enter negotiations and resolved the pending issues “in the best interests of patients”.
Chris Hopson, its chief executive, said: “There is no alternative – negotiation and discussion between staff and employers is the only way to devise a new contract that’s safe for patients and fair for doctors.
“We need terms and conditions that rightly reward their [junior doctors] vital contribution but also recognise the need for reform and modernisation as the move to greater provision of seven day services is inevitable.
“A negotiated agreement would be the best outcome for all parties. We strongly urge junior doctors to respond positively and collaboratively in order to help drive the improvements from which we will all benefit.”
In his letter, Hunt said that the new contract was not a “cost-cutting exercise” and gave “a categorical assurance” that he is not seeking to save any money from the doctors’ paybill.
“Whilst I want to see an end to automatic annual increments (with pay rises instead based on moving through the stages of training and taking on more responsibility), these changes would be cost neutral, rather than cost saving. This will mean that junior doctors would still benefit from four or five progression pay rises as they move through training,” he added.
He reiterated his support for a seven-day NHS, a centrepiece in the government’s manifesto to eradicate the perceived ‘weekend effect’ of “excess deaths in NHS hospitals”. For junior doctors, he said, this will mean “some increase in plain time working”, backed up with a rise in basic pay, a replacement of the banding system and extra cash for unsocial hours.
The health secretary told Malawana that he would be “pleased to discuss in negotiations how far plain time working extends on Saturdays”, and assured that nights and Sundays will “continue to attract unsocial hours payments”.
Hunt also noted that the government’s ambition for the NHS to be “the safest healthcare system in the world” was underpinned by reducing the number of hours junior doctors work weekly, rather than increasing.
“I can give an absolute guarantee to junior doctors that this contract will not impose longer hours. No junior doctor working full time will be expected to work on average more than 48 hours a week.
“I want to see a work review system with teeth that ensures that juniors are not exploited and that addresses issues of overworking if they arise,” he said.
Read more about the junior doctor contract row and find a timeline of disputes here.
(Top image c. Neil Hall/PA Wire)