11.04.16
Next junior doctors’ strike will put patients at greater risk – GMC chair
The planned junior doctors’ strikes at the end of this month, in which doctors will stage an unprecedented withdrawal of all care including in emergency medicine, cannot be done without putting patients at risk of harm, the chair of the General Medical Council (GMC) has said.
Professor Terence Stephenson said that he sympathised with the “deep-seated concerns” of junior doctors, who are striking over the imposition of an unpopular contract which includes a reduction of the times available for anti-social hours pay.
However, he urged doctors to consider the impact of the strike, warning it will become harder to justify as each subsequent strike has a greater impact on patients – for example, problems for patients in chronic pain will increase each time an elective operation is cancelled. The most recent two-day strike, on Wednesday and Thursday last week, led to 5,165 operations being cancelled.
Professor Stephenson said: “Taking thousands of doctors out of emergency frontline care in England is unprecedented and cannot be done without putting patients at greater risk of harm. To suggest otherwise would be a disservice to the enormous contribution made by doctors in training to the care and treatment of NHS patients every day.
“The circumstances facing each doctor will be different and the decision must be based on an assessment of their individual situation. We are not suggesting that industrial action can never be justified but it does become increasingly hard to justify the longer the action goes on, the more intense it becomes, and the more patient care suffers as a result. Before we reach the next day of action, doctors who are thinking about taking part should carefully consider the impact it will have on patients – both the cumulative effect and the additional risks created by withdrawing emergency cover.”
He also said that the GMC are preparing new guidance for doctors contemplating strike action, based on “the fundamental principle that the first concern of every doctor must be the welfare of their patients”.
On Friday Dr Johann Malawana, chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) junior doctors’ committee, who are leading the strikes, said: “Let me be clear: no doctor wants to have to take any further action.
“They want to be at work, doing what they do day in, day out, caring for patients, but this contract will be bad not only for doctors but for the long-term delivery of patient care.
“It is not too late to avoid further action and end this dispute through talks.”
Writing in the Guardian today Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS in England, said: “Doctors are the most trusted profession. This trust is a privileged gift bestowed on us by society, but it brings responsibilities and expectations. One of these expectations is that we are there when people need us most.
“By withdrawing emergency cover, we risk crossing a line, which will irreparably damage this trust and the reputation of our profession. So I encourage every doctor considering withdrawing emergency cover to dig deep and ask whether such action is fair to patients or compatible with the values and privilege of being a doctor.”
(Image c. Lauren Hurley from PA Wire and Press Association Images)