Shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander has warned that the imposition of new junior doctor contracts would "risk a return to the 'bad old days' of over-worked junior doctors, compromising safety and the lives of patients".
In a blog for the Huffington Post, the newly appointed member of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour shadow cabinet said health secretary Jeremy Hunt was taking "precisely the wrong approach" by threatening to impose new contracts after negotiations with the British Medical Association reached a standstill.
The new contracts would mean that the hours for which junior doctors are paid a standard rate would increase from 60 to 90 a week.
"I don't see how it can possibly be justifiable to ask hard-working NHS staff to do more and get paid less," she said.
She added that if Britain wanted to move towards a sustainable seven-day-a-week NHS, as mooted by Hunt when the changes were initially proposed in July, then "we must make sure the staff that will be delivering that service are supported and feel valued".
Since the proposal, healthcare staff have been vocal in opposing the contracts, and the #ImInWorkJeremy hashtag went viral with doctors tweeting pictures of themselves working long weekend hours after Hunt criticised a "Monday-to-Friday culture" within the health service. Last week, thousands of people shared a petition calling on the BMA to support junior doctors in strike action if the new contracts go ahead.
Hi Jeremy. Its 0320 on saturday here in A&E. Could we conference call to discuss my lack of vocation? #ImInWorkJeremy
"With morale at rock-bottom, the NHS is already in the midst of a workforce crisis," Alexander said.
She warned that the crisis "could get even worse", citing a letter sent to Hunt by the royal medical colleges, published yesterday in The Guardian, that said the new contracts threatened "recruitment and retention of front line staff and the provision of front line services".
"If we are to strive to deliver innovative models of care, expand the delivery of care across seven days, increase NHS efficiency, and continue to lead the world in innovation and research, we must support and value the people who are going to deliver this," the letter continued.
Last week the Association of Surgeons in Training took the "unprecedented" step of releasing a statement echoing the royal colleges' sentiments. They expressed concerns that "the significant reduction in pay the contract may introduce will compound the already rising costs of surgical training".
A clip from Thursday's BBC Question Time of a junior doctor expressing concerns that mounting debt and decreased pay could push doctors out of the NHS had at the time of writing been shared on Facebook almost 5,000 times.
Dr Kitty Mohan, co-chair of the BMA junior doctor committee, told BuzzFeed News: "The threat of an imposition comes at a time when junior doctors are working harder than ever to keep up with rising demand on the NHS.
"They work around the clock, seven days a week, and with a starting salary of £23,000, earn less than people might expect.
"Many junior doctors continue to struggle with long hours – working 12 days in a row and clocking up 90-plus hours in a week are still common. It's worrying, if not surprising, that recent figures show a spike in the number of junior doctors considering leaving the NHS to work abroad.
"Imposing a contract that is unsafe and unfair could make this worse. There is a real risk that junior doctors will speak with their feet."