Junior Doctors Are Furious At The Government’s Plans To Change Working Hours

The proposed changes are “bad for patients, bad for junior doctors, and bad for the NHS”, the British Medical Association said.

Junior doctors are expressing their anger and frustration online at the government's plans to change their working hours.

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A petition calling for the British Medical Association to support them in strike action has received over 30,000 signatures.

The new contract, due to come into effect in August 2016, means that hours where junior doctors are paid a standard rate would increase from 60 to 90 hours a week, the British Medical Journal reported.

The alteration of "sociable" hours of work from 7am–7pm, Monday to Friday, to 7am–10pm, Monday to Saturday, means that junior doctors would be paid the same to work Saturday night as they would for a Tuesday afternoon.

"We sacrifice more than most to deliver safe care around the clock for our patients," Amanda Smith commented on the petition page. "Our families suffer and our own health suffers. Why are we under attack?"

Another junior doctor commented that the changes were "unacceptable", adding that "we junior doctors already work long difficult hours, often far beyond our contracted hours, with no recognition".

A spokesperson for the BMA, told BuzzFeed News that other key issues with the contract include "the removal of penalties for employers when junior doctors regularly work in excess of their rostered hours, and changes to pay progression that would disadvantage those who take time out for training".

The British Medical Association has said it will fight government plans to impose the new contract.

Dr Andrew Collier, co-chair of the BMA junior doctor committee, called the contract: "Bad for patients, bad for junior doctors and bad for the NHS."

The Department of Health defended the changes, saying that: "No junior would work more than 72 hours in any seven consecutive days [or] more than four consecutive night shifts of up to 13 hours."

Junior doctors are also reacting on Facebook, where a post by I'm in Work Jeremy, a group set up to oppose the changes, has been shared over 1,000 times.

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An email sent to Jeremy Hunt from junior doctor Luke Turner that highlighted that the health secretary was unavailable during the proposed "sociable hours" due to his own office closing at 5.30pm, has also gone viral on Facebook.

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Turner told BuzzFeed News that the proposed contract felt like the "final straw" to him and his colleagues. He said: "Quite frankly this latest contract move feels like another in a long line of attacks by the Department of Health on doctors. Any kind of erosion on the safeguards surrounding safe working hours poses a threat to both patient safety and the health of junior doctors.

"This comes on the back of not one but two cuts to our pensions, a long-standing pay freeze, and the removal of house officer accommodation (initially negotiated to mitigate our less than competitive salaries and working hours).

"How much more can Hunt and the Department of Health put us through before the good will dries up and the system collapses? I suspect the answer is no more."

For months doctors have been expressing their frustration over the fact that they're already forced to work incredibly long hours.

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In July, Hunt announced plans to reform consultant contracts to support a seven-day-a-week NHS. He said that a "Monday to Friday culture" within the health service, in which consultants are expected to be on call in the case of emergency but are otherwise able to opt out of working weekends, was costing 6,000 lives a year. Doctors already working weekends at the time responded in bemusement on social media with pictures of themselves at work on a Saturday using the hashtag #ImInWorkJeremy.

Tom Evens @DocTomEvens

Hi Jeremy. Its 0320 on saturday here in A&E. Could we conference call to discuss my lack of vocation? #ImInWorkJeremy

03:11 AM - 18 Jul 2015

In August, the BMA Junior Doctors' Committee said it would not re-enter negotiations with NHS Employers over the government's decision to "force through" the new contract, calling on the government to "reverse their hardline stance and work with junior doctors in a genuine negotiation without artificial deadlines," the British Medical Journal reported.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: "We are disappointed that the BMA junior doctors committee has let down its members and decided against re-entering negotiations, especially in light of the consultants' agreement to negotiate. There is independent support for an updated contract that puts patients first, increases basic pay and rewards those who work across all clinical specialities.

"NHS Employers will continue work to prepare a new contract for August 2016."

They told BuzzFeed News that: "NHS Employers is now reaching out to junior doctors, through a series of roadshows, to listen to junior doctors' concerns, but to also inform them about what the changes are and why they are necessary.

"Junior doctors should be directing their anger at their union."

The chief executive for NHS Employers, Danny Mortimer, said: "Our challenge now is to press ahead with the essential reform to the junior doctors' contract. We will do this in a way which engages directly with junior doctors."

In the response to the government's decision to press ahead with the contract, Collier said earlier this week: "The BMA wants to deliver a contract that protects patient safety and is fair to both junior doctors and the health service as a whole. However we can only do this if the UK government and others are prepared to work collaboratively in a genuine negotiation.

"We urge the government not to impose a contract that is unsafe and unfair."

A spokesperson for the BMA told BuzzFeed News: "We've been very clear that we're not happy about it and that we don't think what they're trying to propose is acceptable.

"Discussions are being had over the next week or so about what clear plan of action will be. We are looking at all options at the moment."