UK imposes new contract on junior doctors

The row over a new contract for junior doctors in the UK that led to a strike is set to escalate after the government unilaterally imposed the changes on Thursday.UK health secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had decided to go ahead with the new contract to end uncertainty in the National Health Service (NHS).

He told the House of Commons: "Progress has been made on almost 100 different points of discussion with agreement secured on approximately 90 per cent of them.

"Sadly, despite this progress and willingness from the Government to be flexible on the crucial issue of Saturday pay Sir David Dalton [the Government's chief negotiator] wrote to me yesterday warning that a negotiated solution is 'not realistically possible'.

"Along with other senior NHS leaders and supported by NHS Employers, NHS England, NHS Improvement, the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, he has asked me to end the uncertainty to the service by proceeding with the introduction of a new contract that he and his colleagues consider both safer for patients and fair and reasonable for junior doctors. I have therefore today decided to that," he said.

The British Medical Association (BMA) branded the entire handling of the dispute by the government as "shambolic" and stressed that it "cannot and will not" accept the new contract.

"Our message to the government is clear junior doctors cannot and will not accept a contract that is bad for the future of patient care, the profession and the NHS as a whole, and we will consider all options open to us," a BMA spokesperson said.

Junior doctors have held two 24-hour strike over the issue this year, the last one concluding on Wednesday.

The main sticking point remains payments for working on weekends, referred to as anti-social hours, but the government argues that the current arrangements are outdated and changes are needed to improve standards of medical care at the weekend.

Junior doctors, a term covering nearly 50,000 medical professionals in the UK who are fresh out of medical school as well as those with more experience behind them, have warned that the new contract will affect patient safety by encouraging unsafe shift patterns and also financially hit doctors who work the longest hours.

The BMA wants all day Saturday to be paid at 50 per cent above the basic rate but the government is willing to offer extra pay only after 5 pm onwards.

Hunt's latest announcement raises the prospect of further strikes or even legal action and mass resignations with doctors refusing to sign contracts.