Jeremy Hunt has to go.
The last two days have seen further junior doctor industrial action: full walkout of junior doctor support including emergency cover including A+E, the crash team, ITU, obstetrics and so on.
Contrary to the scaremongering from the hateful daily mail there have been absolutely no patient safety issues, obviously, as the care was expertly provided by experienced and dedicated consultants and allied healthcare professionals. And we are extremely grateful for their support.
And despite hostile sections of the media it is clear that patients and the public are largely supportive of the doctors. Whilst on-call last weekend an 85 year old gentleman I was seeing in resus with a fast irregular heart rate stopped my examination to ask whether I also supported the " young doctors sticking it to that nasty Mr Hunt".
On the picket line I attended this morning we received numerous heartening beeps from passing cars, buses and ambulances. Several of people came to talk to us and express their support, and it was also nice to see some very british members of the public awkwardly display nods and thumbs ups whilst walking past. An old man with a frame stopped across the road and applauded. Several consultants and members of the public also came by with donations of gratefully received food and hot drinks.
The NHS is already straining under the current contract. There are not enough doctors to fill rotas, making each shift more stressful for the few doctors that work them. Having recently moved onto a medical job I can report that 0/4 of my 12 hour on call days had a full complement of medical staff; the remaining team were rushed off their feet to try and see all the ward medical problems and new admissions.
This is a genuine junior doctor rota (names erased) from a different hospital. The boxes in yellow are represent shifts where there is currently no doctor allocated. These extra shifts are frequently advertised as locum jobs but without much success - it is unpleasant to work under such short staffed conditions and there is increased risks of making mistakes. Junior doctors are already tired from working 50+ hours a week and value their free time. New government policy to cap the hourly rate of such locum shifts removes any small remaining incentive to work further hours.
Jeremy Hunt frequently claims (lies) about increasing funding for the NHS, when actually it is facing real terms cuts. He expects to make doctors work harder and longer in the context of £20billion worth of "efficiency savings". source
It is clear that a treacherous and callous government is taking a heavy heavy toll on junior doctor's morale.
GP satisfaction in the UK is plummeting. More and more (junior and senior) doctors are leaving - no sign of those 5000 promised new GPs.
The new contract is also explicit in its discrimination of women and those with disabilities
- and may indeed be illegal according to Britain's equality watchdog.
The tactic seems to be to grossly underfund and destabilise the NHS to set the scene for private companies to rescue the profitable parts - this sneak privatisation is already happening and has been hastened by the conservative's 2012 health and social care act (then health secretary lansley responsible for this act now advises private companies how to profit from the NHS).
Despite, and perhaps partly because of, the ongoing pressures facing the health service Junior doctors remain positive. Jeremy Hunt has inadvertently strengthened the profession as we unite against his government's abuses of the public sector. There is rekindled camaraderie amongst colleagues of different specialties, junior and senior, doctors and other healthcare workers standing together passionate in their defence of a world class free health service that is adequately funded, and fair for patients and staff.
Picket line in Manchester April 26th 2016
Appendix
A good, simple explanation of the main concern:
