29.10.15
‘Small minority’ of junior doctors will lose money with new contract, Hunt admits
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has admitted a “small minority” of junior doctors will lose money as a result of the government’s new contract – despite guaranteeing just hours earlier that no doctor would see their pay cut.
In a letter sent yesterday (28 October) to Dr Johann Malawana, the BMA’s junior doctors committee chair, Hunt guaranteed that “no junior doctor will see their pay cut compared to their current contract”.
Prime minister David Cameron had backed the claim, saying no doctor would lose out “in terms of their salary and I think that’s very important for junior doctors to understand”.
And during an Opposition Day debate called by the Labour Party in the House of Commons, Hunt added: “Today I can confirm that not a single junior doctor working within the legal limits for hours will have their pay cut because this is about patient care and not saving money.
“This is something, incidentally, that I made clear was a possible outcome of negotiations to the BMA at the beginning of September in an attempt to encourage them to return to the negotiating table. But rather than coming and negotiating they chose to wind up their own members and create a huge amount of unnecessary anger.”
But in an interview with BBC Breakfast this morning, Hunt admitted that junior doctors currently paid the so-called ‘danger money’ for working extra hours could suffer a blow to their payslips.
“There’s a very small minority of doctors who will be working more than an average of 56 hours and at the moment they get paid what’s called colloquially in the NHS ‘danger money’.
“We think that’s wrong. Actually, we shouldn’t be allowing that to happen. It’s not safe for patients and, frankly, I’m not sure if it’s safe for doctors either. But what we are saying is that for the vast majority of doctors who are working within the legal limit, there will be no pay cut. We’ll make sure that happens,” he said.
In his letter to the BMA, the health secretary had said no junior doctor would have to work more than 48 hours per week and defined a new ceiling of 72 hours per week.
Malawana today criticised Hunt’s inconsistent claims, saying: “Just hours after promising that no junior doctor would have a pay cut, Jeremy Hunt has now admitted that those working the longest hours would in fact see their pay fall.
“Jeremy Hunt has repeatedly shifted his position and this is another example of the health secretary claiming on thing, but the reality being quite different.
“It makes it impossible for junior doctors to trust the government when they have been caught out trying to gloss over the facts.”
And in his response to Hunt’s letter from yesterday, Malawana reiterated that Whitehall must withdraw the threat of imposing the new contract before junior doctors agree to re-enter negotiations.
Junior doctors are still set to vote on strike action once the BMA’s ballot opens on 5 November. To find out more about the longstanding junior doctor dispute, visit NHE’s exclusive detailed timeline of events dating back to 2013.
(Top image shows Dr Johann Malawana during 'Not safe, not fair' protests in London, 28 September c. Steve Eason)