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Junior doctors strike back on

Junior doctors in England to strike next week after talks break down

'The first industrial action by junior doctors since November 1975 will result in the 45,000 junior doctors in England providing only emergency cover for 24 hours from 8am on 12 January, leading to a much reduced level of operation. They will stage the same sort of withdrawal of labour for 48 hours from 8am on Tuesday 26 January, and then stage one all-out strike between 8am and 5pm on Wednesday 10 February."

Good. I mean not good but good they are doing it. The terms of that new contract are unbelievably awful.
 
Had I the ability do do so, I would dismiss the whole bloody lot of them. They are a disgrace to the profession.

If you want a big salary and office hours, do something else.

As a nurse I routinely worked weekends, nights, bank holidays, Christmas Day etc, and thought absolutely nothing of it. It came with the job.
 
Had I the ability do do so, I would dismiss the whole bloody lot of them. They are a disgrace to the profession.

If you want a big salary and office hours, do something else.

As a nurse I routinely worked weekends, nights, bank holidays, Christmas Day etc, and thought absolutely nothing of it. It came with the job.

Oh dear. Really? Nobody is asking for bigger salaries or 9-5 hours.
Have a look into what they are striking about, the terms of the contract that they were told they'd all have to sign.
 
Sasaferrato said:
Had I the ability do do so, I would dismiss the whole bloody lot of them. They are a disgrace to the profession.

If you want a big salary and office hours, do something else.

As a nurse I routinely worked weekends, nights, bank holidays, Christmas Day etc, and thought absolutely nothing of it. It came with the job.

At the time, were you in a union, and/or in a professional association that looked after your interests well, Sasaferrato ?

Medical professionals hate striking, so why are you blaming them?. I'm sure you've had some sort of look at why they feel they've been driven into this. Have you looked at the details of their new contracts?

Most strikes are provoked by crap management, and Hunt is the walking, talking embodiment of bad management. Surely?
 
Had I the ability do do so, I would dismiss the whole bloody lot of them. They are a disgrace to the profession.

If you want a big salary and office hours, do something else.

As a nurse I routinely worked weekends, nights, bank holidays, Christmas Day etc, and thought absolutely nothing of it. It came with the job.

When were you a nurse?
Have you any idea what it's like to be junior doctor now?
 
Had I the ability do do so, I would dismiss the whole bloody lot of them. They are a disgrace to the profession.

If you want a big salary and office hours, do something else.

As a nurse I routinely worked weekends, nights, bank holidays, Christmas Day etc, and thought absolutely nothing of it. It came with the job.
Junior doctors routinely work bank holidays, nights and weekends as well.

The government is not only proposing to reduce the money they are paid, which is not as much as some people think, but are also removing the safeguards which are in place to try and stop hospitals from breaching the working time regulations which now apply to junior doctors.

Do you want to be operated on, or life saving diagnoses to be made, by a doctor who hasn't slept for days? That's what used to happen, and we must stop it from happening again.
 
Had I the ability do do so, I would dismiss the whole bloody lot of them. They are a disgrace to the profession.

If you want a big salary and office hours, do something else.

As a nurse I routinely worked weekends, nights, bank holidays, Christmas Day etc, and thought absolutely nothing of it. It came with the job.

There were a few wobbles back in 2015 but it's good to see you're starting 2016 in full-on 'stupid ignorant Tory cunt' mode. :thumbs:
 
I'm really glad that Sasaferrato is not in charge, come tomorrow morning we'd have no doctors at all, because they'd all be sacked, which seems a bit of drastic way to solve the NHS funding problem. :facepalm:

No, much as I would like to, it isn't feasible.

I really despise then for this. It has taken what used to be a vocation and traduced it. Anyone who becomes a nurse or doctor for the money, is in the wrong job.
 
When were you a nurse?
Have you any idea what it's like to be junior doctor now?

I do. Yes.

The whole concept of 'unsocial hours' is anachronistic, especially in medicine and similar 24/7 activities. Raise basic salaries, which is what is proposed, and phase out unsocial hours payments.
 
Junior doctors routinely work bank holidays, nights and weekends as well.

The government is not only proposing to reduce the money they are paid, which is not as much as some people think, but are also removing the safeguards which are in place to try and stop hospitals from breaching the working time regulations which now apply to junior doctors.

Do you want to be operated on, or life saving diagnoses to be made, by a doctor who hasn't slept for days? That's what used to happen, and we must stop it from happening again.

Some of the finest surgery of the last decade has been performed in Iraq and Afghanistan. What sort of hours do you think these doctors were working?

When I started as a student nurse in 1970, junior doctors would be on call from Fri 12:00 until Mon 12:00. They coped perfectly well. I feel you are being a tad histrionic in your assertion.
 
No, much as I would like to, it isn't feasible.

I really despise then for this. It has taken what used to be a vocation and traduced it. Anyone who becomes a nurse or doctor for the money, is in the wrong job.

Err. ok. So you have decided that all the junior doctors working in the NHS chose the job because they thought it looked like a good way to get rich quick.
 
Err. ok. So you have decided that all the junior doctors working in the NHS chose the job because they thought it looked like a good way to get rich quick.

I cannot be bothered. I've said what I think, and you are entirely free to agree or disagree.
 
Some of the finest surgery of the last decade has been performed in Iraq and Afghanistan. What sort of hours do you think these doctors were working?

When I started as a student nurse in 1970, junior doctors would be on call from Fri 12:00 until Mon 12:00. They coped perfectly well. I feel you are being a tad histrionic in your assertion.
But they didn't cope perfectly well!

And I'm not being in the slightest bit histrionic. Am stating a few facts, that's all. You're just choosing to ignore those facts, for reasons I don't understand.
 
I cannot be bothered. I've said what I think, and you are entirely free to agree or disagree.

Your whole attitude is very odd. Nobody should be ashamed of wanting a decent wage and decent working conditions for the job they do. I want the doctors treating me to be well paid and not overworked as they are saving lives and doing some of the most important work in our world. Nobody goes into health and social care for the money but that doesn't mean we just have shit lumped on us either. Surely you want a better world, not some silly race to the bottom, I know I do at any rate.
 
Had I the ability do do so, I would dismiss the whole bloody lot of them. They are a disgrace to the profession.

If you want a big salary and office hours, do something else.

As a nurse I routinely worked weekends, nights, bank holidays, Christmas Day etc, and thought absolutely nothing of it. It came with the job.
Classic 'negative solidarity' of the impotent reactionary.
Pitiful.
 
A CALL FROM THE BMA - TO OUR FELLOW WORKERS, TRADE UNIONISTS AND ACTIVISTS: WE NEED YOU!

The current situation:

Junior Doctors across England will be commencing industrial action on Tuesday 12th January. We are opposing this government’s attempt to impose an unsafe new contract on the medical profession. It is our view that the proposed contract represents an existential danger to the NHS as an institution.

You may be aware that the BMA had initially suspended its planned industrial action at the start of December and returned to talks with the Department of Health. That decision was made in good faith. However, over the last few weeks, in the course of negotiations with Government we have encountered only intransigence. It is clear that the government perceives our contract issue as pivotal for its attempt to “reform” the NHS towards a neoliberal, commercialised system.

It is therefore evident to us that we have no choice but to transform our 98% ballot mandate into action.

The developments of the next few months will have consequences stretching far into the future. This government is wilfully putting at risk our patients' safety, the tolerability of our working lives as NHS workers and the very viability of the NHS as a publicly-funded, publicly-provided service.

Why we need YOU

The coming period will be the ultimate test of the BMA’s resolve as a Union. However, we remain mindful of the fact that the BMA is not an abstract entity operating in isolation from wider political developments. There is no way that we can win this on our own. We need all concerned citizens, activists and trade unionists to stand alongside us in this fight.

Over the last few months we have been in dialogue with many trade unionists throughout the country and we have been enormously grateful for their support both at a local and national level. The public messages of support from our allied health worker colleagues, the firefighters, the teaching unions and the TUC and TUCG unions have galvanised junior doctors.

We are therefore well aware that all eyes are upon us and that the institutions which represent the wider working class stand with us in solidarity.

We are in no doubt that Osborne, Cameron and Hunt will use the proposed doctor’s contract as a tool for achieving the destruction of safe terms and conditions throughout the NHS and throughout the public sector. The Conservative Party is attempting to stretch the NHS into an ostensibly 7-day elective service whilst simultaneously launching the biggest assault on NHS resources in its history. The politics of austerity represents a clear and present danger to the nation’s health.

A victory for the Junior Doctors would signify the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK.

Please stand with us. And when you need us, ask us. We will stand by you.

Invitation to attend our pickets

On behalf of the entire BMA we thank you all for your incredible support so far. Many of you will have seen the details with regards to the planned action and I will reiterate them below. We invite you to come out and display your visible support for us on the days of action.

The action will begin with an emergency care-only model, which would see junior doctors provide the same level of service that happens in their given specialty, hospital or GP practice on Christmas Day. It will then escalate to full walk-outs. The action as proposed is:

Emergency care only — 24 hrs from 8am Tuesday 12 January to 8am Wednesday 13 January

Emergency care only — 48 hrs from 8am Tuesday 26th January to 8am Thursday 28 January

Full withdrawal of labour — from 8am to 5pm Wednesday 10th February
The aim is to picket all major hospitals in England on all three days of proposed action. Pickets will be in the vicinity of the main entrances and will start at 8am, continuing until at least 12.30pm. However, many picket sites will continue into the evening, especially at the larger hospitals.
Along with the pickets there will be parallel “Meet the Doctors” events at nearby transport stops or public spaces. We will direct you to these events from the picket.
Please turn up on the days of action, and give us your support. We will then inform you if other local events are planned on the day. If you are an allied health worker, trade unionist or campaigner please do consider bringing along the banner representing your organisation, your working uniform or similar. We would appreciate it however if banners in explicit endorsement of specific political parties are not displayed and that any selling of campaign literature such as newspapers is relatively discreet.
On the days of action, please do debate us, educate us and invite us to address your colleagues in your workplace or trade union branch.

Finally

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you of another important upcoming date. On Saturday 9th January student nurses, midwives and allied health workers will be marching in opposition to Government plans to scrap the NHS student bursary. The protest will assemble outside St Thomas’s hospital at midday and proceed to Downing St. The BMA will be marching alongside the nursing students and we hope to see you there!

Just as the social democratic consensus in this country began with the inception of the NHS in 1948 so too will the NHS be the site of Britain’s last stand against the all-consuming forces of austerity.

Solidarity is the antidote to the cynicism of those in power. Now is the time to stand together in a common defence of the NHS. If not now, when?

Kind regards

Dr Yannis Gourtsoyannis, Member of BMA Junior Doctors Committee National Executive.
Yannis Gourtsoyannis
Yannis Gourtsoyannis
4 Jan 2016
 
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