Junior doctors’ strikes: BMA responds to your questions

What would it take for the BMA to call off the five day strike planned for October?

Ellen McCourt: “Future action is still avoidable. Put simply, we have repeatedly said we will call off further action if the government calls a halt to its plans to force junior doctors to work under a contract they rejected because they don’t believe it is good for the future of patient care or the profession.”

What specifically in the wording of the current contract document does the BMA want to see changed?

“We know that junior doctors still have significant concerns with the contract, including the impact it will have on those working less than full time—a majority of whom are women—and the impact it will have on junior doctors working the most weekends, typically in specialties where there is already a shortage of doctors. These are just two areas we want to work with the government on.

“The contract has a crucial part to play in how attractive medicine remains as a profession and the NHS’s ability to recruit to certain specialties in particular. It is vital that we get it right, rather than rush it through.”

Why does the BMA think that three sets of five days of strike action, as opposed to less disruptive forms of action, will be successful in improving the contract agreement?

“After junior doctors rejected the government’s proposed contract in July, the BMA made repeated attempts to work constructively with the government to address junior doctors’ outstanding concerns, but genuine efforts to resolve the dispute through talks have been met with an unwillingness to engage from the secretary of state. This is despite a pledge from him that his door is always open.

“With just weeks before the first group of doctors is moved onto the imposed contract—a contract that will be in place for many years and will have a direct impact on patient care and on whether we can attract and keep enough doctors in the NHS—junior doctors feel they have no other option but to take further action. The urgency of the timeline is in the government’s hands: they have chosen to impose this contract from October.

“We have made it absolutely clear that this action is avoidable. All the government has to do is start listening to junior doctors’ concerns and stop the imposition.”

Many junior doctors on social media say that they did not support the contract but do not support strike action and would like a new ballot on the issue of strike action. What would you say to them?

“Throughout this dispute the BMA has reflected the views of junior doctors. Junior doctors across England rejected the proposed contract. After this we sought feedback from junior doctors to gauge what their remaining concerns with the contract were and what action, if any, they wanted to take next. It was clear that junior doctors felt that their outstanding concerns were being ignored by the government and were prepared to take escalated industrial action.

“During this dispute we have seen the profession unite in an amazing way, with thousands of junior doctors turning out on the picket lines to support each other. It is because of their action that we were able to make progress with the government, but eight days of constructive negotiations, brought to an end purely because of a political deadline, is not enough. This contract will affect a generation of doctors and their patients and should not be rushed through to a political timeline.”

What should a junior doctor who does not support the new contract, but does not want to go on strike for five days, do?

“Junior doctors who wish to express their views to the Junior Doctors Committee can contact their regional JDC or email jdcchair@bma.org.uk. It is the choice of individual junior doctors whether or not to take part in the industrial action. This is not an easy decision for any doctor. Their choice will be respected by their colleagues.”

What other issues, not directly to do with the new contract, are contributing to the strength of feeling among junior doctors? What would the BMA like to see done about these issues?

“The government has said that a new contract is needed to deliver more seven day services, when the Department of Health’s own documents show that the NHS does not have a plan as to how it will staff or fund further seven day services.

“Already our hospitals are chronically understaffed, and our NHS is desperately underfunded. Concerns have repeatedly been raised by NHS staff and NHS leaders about rota gaps across the NHS, GPs are at breaking point, and we’ve seen hospitals in Chorley, Grantham, and Stafford that have been forced to close A&E departments or limit access because they don’t have enough staff to deliver safe care.

“Stretching an already overstretched service is not the right thing to do for the future of the NHS or for the patients it serves. If the government wants to make more services available across seven days, then it needs to urgently address how it will staff and fund them rather than continue to mislead the public and brand doctors—who already work round the clock, seven days a week—as a roadblock to their plans.”