Junior doctors in plan for “escalating” strike action

Junior doctors have raises the stakes in their dispute with Jeremy Hunt by planning a series of larger strikes in protest against the imposition of new contracts.

The trade union at the heart of the row has warned of “escalating” industrial action which could result in the first full walkout by junior doctors.

It comes after junior doctors held two days of strike action, in the first two months of the year, which was limited to those working in non-emergency care.

Now the British Medical Association (BMA) junior doctors’ committee has vowed to act with a “single and determined purpose” to fight the decision by Hunt, the Health Secretary, to impose the contracts, which cover new arrangements for pay and weekend working.

“JDC has made the clear decision that further industrial action is inevitable and that we will consider escalating any action to achieve our aim to end the imposition”, wrote Johann Malawana in an email to members.

“We know you are overstretched and that an imposed contract in August will only add to this. We also know – and the public understand this – that if the Government wants junior doctors to take the brunt of delivering more services across seven days, they need to put their money where their mouth is.”

Dr Malawana also said the union would run a “public facing campaign” to win support. The email was leaked to The Daily Telegraph but the BMA did not dispute the accuracy of the message.

The previous strike, which lasted for 24 hours earlier this month, is thought to have led to the cancellation of 6,000 operations.

At the time of the walkout doctors received strong public support, with 64 per cent of people blaming the Government for “the dispute lasting this long” and 13 per cent blaming doctors, according to an IPSOS Mori poll for the Health Service Journal. A further 18 per cent said both sides were “equally at fault”.

On the same day Labour condemned Hunt’s handling of the strike but avoided pledging full support. Lord Falconer, shadow Justice Secretary, said: “We are not ambivalent in supporting the cause of the doctors… So we support their cause but we are neutral in relation to the industrial action.”