Junior doctors strike back on

[existentialist]

That was 2014 btw so presumably there we can now tell.

Oh, was it? Hmm. *wonders where we might find that out*

 

[BigTom]

Oh, was it? Hmm. *wonders where we might find that out*

Freedom of Information (FoI) request? Circle are a private company, but this is a govt. contract so I think should still be caught under the FoI legislation.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

There was apparently a report last June - Nottingham dermatology privatisation 'unmitigated disaster' - BBC News - which said the privatisation was an "unmitigated disaster" but, er, that was nobody's fault.

Also NUH response: Dermatology review - Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

 

[superfly101]

Our bid to provide dermatology services from 2013 was not successful. NUH consultants were obliged to transfer their employment to Circle following award of the contract.

This is all you need to know about why both pay and contractual terms are being obliterated.

Oh and the fact that NHS staff will br TUPED into the private Health Care provider when they are awarded the contract.

Call me a cynic.......

You do have to wonder if bids that beat existing NHS departments and privatise services based on "cost savings" have been built around this new wage cost/terms model?

 

[SpookyFrank]

You do have to wonder if bids that beat existing NHS departments and privatise services based on "cost savings" have been built around this new wage cost/terms model?

In this case it looks as though the trust has been left with the obligation to provide children's dermatology services while the adult service has been farmed out to the private sector. Which doesn't work if what you had to start with was an integrated service.

You can't look at cost savings on the basis of chopping up healthcare provision into little chunks and only considering them all in isolation. You will lose economies of scale and you'll create more bureaucracy. And it's all based on the assumption that patients only ever turn up with one problem at a time.

What happens if you have a complex condition that requires input from several different specialists to diagnose and treat, when all those specialists are working for different (and competing) providers in different hospitals? Not only are we letting bean-counters tear health provision to pieces, but they're bean counters who can't even fucking count

 

[FabricLiveBaby!]

As an aside, I hate this term "junior doctor" seems to me it's a cynical Tory attempt to steal the narritive and infantilise doctors some if whom have 10+ years medical experience. It's a catch all term.

A junior doctor is basically anyone who isn't a consultant.

We need to take this narritive back. Can't we call just call it a doctor's strike from now on? Seems more apt.

 

[ffsear]

People need stop using the NHS as a political weapon in their outdated 1980's left vs right, class war style politics.

 

[kropotkin]

People need stop using the NHS as a political weapon in their outdated 1980's left vs right, class war style politics.

Thanks for that

 

[frogwoman]

They will have to watch out, all those clenched fists, the D/M etc, will mark them down as Marxists, Trots, etc.

So what? They're just posing ffs. Nothing wrong with that

 

[treelover]

It wasn't meant to be serious, bit suprising if anything.

 

[existentialist]

And Cameron weighs in:

Junior doctors must not block NHS progress, says Cameron

David Cameron has repeated the threat to impose a new contract on junior doctors without their consent, arguing they cannot be allowed to “block progress in our NHS”.
In comments that risk further infuriating junior doctors, the prime minister said the government needed to reserve the right to bring in changes opposed by medics.

I imagine that this is just more brinksmanship posturing, but I wonder if Cameron has considered the likely outcomes of this whole strategy.

One of the main planks of the doctors' argument has been that fewer people are willing to consider working in the NHS over time, and that many doctors are saying they will leave if this contract is imposed.

Now, one possibility is that it is they who are engaging in brinksmanship, and perhaps Cameron believes that, if the contract is imposed, they'll just suck it up and carry on. But the evidence seems to suggest that not only are doctors already disappearing off to places like Australia post-qualification, but that there are plenty of other avenues - not necessarily front-line medical - that are open to people with that level of training. And, with the continuing squeeze on student grants and support, the already expensive business of qualifying as a doctor is further and further out of the reach of more and more people.

Is he being much smarter than we realise, or is he really prepared to create a situation where so few doctors are prepared to consider an NHS career that the system collapses, not because of funding itself, but because this government has comprehensively strangled the supply of medics available to the NHS?

 

[treelover]

Junior doctors' strike suspended as talks to end contract row continue

Next weeks strike, suspended, but might work out best as the third one would have co-incided with half term when consultants(who have been covering) are off..

 

[Hocus Eye.]

Junior doctors' strike suspended as talks to end contract row continue

Next weeks strike, suspended, but might work out best as the third one would have co-incided with half term when consultants(who have been covering) are off..

Half term, what has half term got to do with the price of fish?

 

[brogdale]

Half term, what has half term got to do with the price of fish?

Skiing.
They all go.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

March in London today ahead of the next strike, btw, from Waterloo Place to Downing Street. Didn't seem to get a lot of publicity tbh which seems to have affected the turnout, but we'll see.

 

[teqniq]

Deal to end junior doctors agreed by everyone - until Jeremy Hunt vetoed it

 

[NoXion]

Deal to end junior doctors agreed by everyone - until Jeremy Hunt vetoed it

I think the word "strike" is meant to be in there, unless Jeremy Hunt is vetoing plans to have all junior doctors shot.

Which, given the content of the link, seems unlikely. What a cunt.

 

[jakethesnake]

I work in a day centre for the homeless. I took a call today from a doctor planning to go on strike tomorrow asking if a few of them could volunteer some time with us seeing as how they weren't going to be at work.

 

[Pickman's model]

Skiing.
They all go.

on the days they aren't playing golf

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Have a listen to this item on Radio 4's Today programme: 10/02/2016, Today - BBC Radio 4

The bit I'm refering to is from 0850:

Junior doctors in England will go on strike for 24 hours from 8am this morning in a dispute with the government over pay and working hours. Reena Aggarwal is a junior doctor specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology and Dr Henry Goodall was a GP until 1991.
​

Truly desperate stuff from Dr Goodall. It was the icing on the cake provided by the earlier contribution from Chris Hopson (chief executive of NHS Providers) who was all for a headlong race to the bottom when it comes to terms and conditions.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[brogdale]

Utter scum.

 

[nino_savatte]

Meanwhile at Hinchinbrooke Hospital, Tory MP, Mark Simmonds, rakes in 50k a year as their 'strategic advisor'.
Patients told to soil themselves while hospital pays Tory MP £50k pa for 10 hours work

 

[Sprocket.]

I work in a day centre for the homeless. I took a call today from a doctor planning to go on strike tomorrow asking if a few of them could volunteer some time with us seeing as how they weren't going to be at work.

I am sure there will be doctors volunteering today for various causes.
But I am also sure you will hear or read little of their work from the media!

 

[Sprocket.]

If Jeremy Hunt worked in industry and his opening stance in negotiations was, if I don't like what I hear I am imposing the new contracts anyway (paraphrased). He would probably be looking for a new job himself.
Compromise and open minds solve disputes not threats.
On the other hand the Tories have managed something that no other government has, uniting consultants and junior doctors. I tip my hat to the clueless.

 

[jakethesnake]

I am sure there will be doctors volunteering today for various causes.
But I am also sure you will hear or read little of their work from the media!

Yup, I'm sure you're right. The charity I work for is going to put something out on the Facebook page/Twitter. It's been very nice having them here and one of them made some very good chicken soup. Solidarity with the doctors!

 

[Louis MacNeice]

The Dr Henry Goodall on the Today Programme is the same Dr Goodall who as President of the Society of Occupational Medicine welcomed the coalition government's review into the sickness absence system. Indeed he was so taken with it that in the Society's news letter he said the following:

This is the first Government in history to use the words ‘WORK’ and ‘HEALTH’ in the same sentence. They​

certainly see us as part of the solution, not as part of the problem. While the Benefits situation is most
challenging for Government at this time, we can be part of the force for progress and must take this opportunity
to push forward towards new and flexible ways of delivering our advice and experience to managers and
employees alike.
​

Contrast his appreciation with that of the TUC and Henry's position becomes even clearer. Brendan Barber, then TUC General Secretary said this about the review:

If this were to be a genuine attempt to support those on long-term sickness get back to work then the TUC would welcome it with open arms. However we are concerned that it will end up as just another part of the Government's cost-saving onslaught on the income and rights of those at work, and those on benefits.
The fact that the review is being conducted by a leading voice of employers' interests, with no corresponding involvement from unions representing workers affected by sickness absence, gives us little confidence in the outcome.
​

So we have a government friendly, employer friendly Dr, who as President of the Society of Occupational Medicine (dedicated to the protection of the health of people in the workplace and the prevention of occupational injuries and disease), is given a national platform to advocate 140hr + working weeks for junior doctors...we live in a funny old world to be sure.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[Lord Camomile]

Utter scum.

That tired old "others don't get something therefore you shouldn't" sadly has far more traction than it should. People seem to miss that it's not zero sum, and if someone else gets something it doesn't mean they can't get it too. Everyone should be paid better for working unsociable hours, ffs!

 

[Louis MacNeice]

That tired old "others don't get something therefore you shouldn't" sadly has far more traction than it should. People seem to miss that it's not zero sum, and if someone else gets something it doesn't mean they can't get it too. Everyone should be paid better for working unsociable hours, ffs!

Stop looking up at the stars and get your eyes back on the gutter; aspiration indeed...whatever next.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[Lord Camomile]

#IAmTheDoctorWho and #IAmThePatientWho are both well worth reading through if you have the time

 

[Lord Camomile]

I just defended the strike on Facebook under comments on the BBC Trending page. I really shouldn't have, especially given how ill-informed I am about it all