Jeremy Hunt to impose junior doctors' contract due to union impasse

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Wednesday he will impose the new contract affecting 54,000 NHS junior doctors in England after he, nor the union, could reach an agreement.

Hunt told MPs in the House of Commons the contract will be implemented in October as planned. He rejected holding further discussions with the British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors’ union.

“Many people will call for me to return to negotiations with the BMA, and to them I would like to say this: we have been talking or trying to talk for well over three years. There is no consensus around a new contract and after yesterday’s vote it’s not clear that any further discussions could create one.”

On Tuesday a recent ballot revealed that junior doctors voted to reject the government’s recent contract offer. Only 48% accepted the offer and 58% of junior doctors and medical students who were members of the BMA rebuffed the contract.

About 37,000 members took part in the ballot on Friday; this is about 68% of foundation year doctors and final and penultimate year medical students who were eligible to vote.

He said he was going ahead with the contract due to the economic uncertainty that Brexit has caused since the European Union (EU) referendum.

“Protracted uncertainty at precisely the time we grapple with enormous consequences of leaving the EU can only be damaging for those working in the NHS and on the patients who depend on it.”

He said the new contract was better than one initially drafted, and he had not rejected the concerns of junior doctors.

"I do believe the agreement negotiated in May is better for junior doctors - and better for the NHS - than the original contract we planned to introduce in March. So rather than try to wind the clock back to the March contract, we will not change any of the new terms agreed with the BMA.

"It’s also important to note that even though we’re proceeding without consensus, this decision is not a rejection of the legitimate concerns of many junior doctors about their working conditions.”

He also said the BMA was “a union which has stirred up anger amongst its own members it is now unable to pacify”.

Shadow health secretary Diane Abbott said: “It does not help for the government to treat junior doctors like the enemy within.”

The contract dispute is due to the government wanting to classify Saturday as a normal working day in the NHS. The BMA said junior doctors were entitled to a premium rate of pay for all weekend working as they get now.

In the deal, junior doctors will have a premium pay if doctors work seven or more weekends in a calendar year. They will also receive a percentage of their salary for working the weekend shifts. Any night shift that is more than eight hours and has finished by 1000 the following day will receive a 37% increase.

The average basic pay rise would be between 10% and 11%, down from the 13.5% the government initially put forward.

Since January there have been four strikes by junior doctors, which led to the cancellation of tens of thousands of operations throughout England, which raised concerns about patient safety. During the strike emergency care was still provided by junior doctors, but in May the union had its first ‘all out’ strike where it was not.

Before industrial action, the General Medical Council, the profession’s regulator, said the junior doctors’ strike could harm patients and ruin public trust in doctors.

Negotiations broke down over the years after both sides blamed each other’s apparent obstinacy for the continued failure to reach an agreement.

The MP for south west Surrey is also facing legal action from Justice for Health, a campaign started by junior doctors which said Hunt had no legal authority to impose the contract. The BMA had also questioned the legality of the contract on gender equality grounds, raising concerns that the contract could adversely affect women.