Junior Doctors Strike - it's not all about the money

photo from Dr Tony O'Sullivan on twitter

Pickets were out at hospitals across the country yesterday - and will be again today - in the 4th strike in the ongoing Junior Doctors dispute.  In South East London that included Lewisham Hospital (pictured above) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich. Simon Pirani, who was at Woolwich, has sent us this report:

'Junior doctors picketed Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich this morning in protest at the Tory government’s attempt to impose a new contract. Together with local supporters (including me) they formed a group of about 20 at the main gate. Patients on their way in to appointments wished them well; drivers honked and waved.

 

Women doctors on the picket line were especially incensed at the results of an equality impact assessment, released by the government last week, which show that the new contracts will disproportionately disadvantage women. They were also angry about the way that the contract terms discriminate against junior doctors working part-time – many of whom are women with children.

 

The pickets hope that the threat of all-out strike action, on 26-27 April, will persuade the government to back down from imposing the contract ... or at least to put it out for consultative review.

 

My impression was that the junior doctors’ dispute has almost nothing to do with the level of pay. These are people who spend up to 15 years training for a demanding (and ultimately well paid) profession. They already work all the shifts that god sends, and have to move hospitals regularly. It is the way that the contract is being rammed through – and the way that it takes unsocial hours working for granted – that infuriates them.

 

Anger is also generated by the government’s dictatorial handling of negotiations with the BMA, its insulting propaganda (“extra deaths at the weekends” and all those lies) and its bullying demeanour. On top of that, the new contract is obviously part of a long continuum of changes aimed at trashing the NHS as a publicly-provided service and making it a privatised business.

 

The pickets will be at QEH again on Tuesday 26 April, at 8.0 am, when they will be on all-out strike. Please join them'.

 

Striking junior doctors in Woolwich

 

Junior Doctors Strike in South London

There was good support across South London for today's strike by Junior Doctors against proposed new contract conditions.

Pickets at Maudsley Hospital in Camberwell photo from Unite the Resistance on twitter

Guys Hospital

St Thomas Hospital - photo by @laurafleur on twitter

Croydon University Hospital - photo from @ger_ogara on twitter

Lewisham Hospital - photo from @Allan_Katie on twitter

If you want to know more about the reasons for the strike and why doctors believe that they are not just fighting for their terms and conditions but for patient safety and for the NHS itself, check out the video from The Guardian filmed at Lewisham earlier today.

Lewisham Support for Junior Doctors

So tomorrow's planned 24 hour strike by Junior Doctors in the NHS has been called off pending further negotiations after health secretary Jeremy Hunt backed down and agreed that he would not unilaterally impose a new contract on them. Junior Doctors and their supporters have been organising at local hospitals, including at Lewisham where banners were all ready to go... and will no doubt be brought out again unless there is some real progress on pay and conditions.

photo from Dr Tony O'Sullivan on twitter

Here's the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign statement on the dispute:

Junior doctors are the backbone of the NHS

The term “junior” is misleading – in fact the majority have

many years experience and constitute the main medical workforce in our hospitals.

They are the doctors who tend to you if you are admitted to hospital day or night, 24/7.

This Government is treating them shabbily. It wants to impose a new contract on them and refuses to negotiate. The doctors reject the new contract— it is both unsafe and unfair.

Unsafe because it removes the safeguards against doctors being forced to work excessively long hours, which will increase risk to patients.

Unfair because for many doctors it will mean pay cuts and/or even longer antisocial hours.

Junior doctors don’t want to strike. They have been given no choice as the Government has refused to listen to them. They want the Government to negotiate without preconditions and to remove the threat of contract imposition. Strike action is a last resort and has been planned so that patients are not harmed, with consultants providing emergency care.

If the junior doctors lose this battle then it will be harder to recruit to specialties like A&E which already suffer a serious shortage of doctors. Those who remain will be working more antisocial hours and be more tired; many will leave the NHS. If the junior doctors lose this battle then the Government will come for the nurses and other NHS staff next.

The junior doctors are now in the front line. They are defending a high quality NHS – one that is run by well-supported staff who are able to give of their best when caring for you. We urge you to support our junior doctors and to support all NHS staff and the future of our NHS'.