Junior doctors: it’s not about the money

Last Saturday around 15 000 junior doctors, along with colleagues, friends, and family, took to the streets of London, Nottingham, and Belfast to protest against changes to their contract. According to the BMA, the government’s proposals for a new contract will reduce juniors’ pay and remove safeguards that protect them from working excessive hours, jeopardising patient care as a result.

For the most part, the media coverage of the junior doctors’ concerns has been positive. The Daily Mail even ran an article about an anti-contract song. Medical student Eirion Slade’s cover of Jessie J’s song Price Tag, with the chorus, “It’s not about the money, money, money,” has become a huge hit online, the paper reports.1

And coverage was not confined to national newspapers. Jessica Butler, a junior doctor …