Junior doctors are caught in a maelstrom; voting for or against a contract that is the best offer yet proposed, but with questions about its fairness, safety, and practical application especially now in the post Brexit era. Since the contract was published, as one of the public facing grass roots junior doctors over the past […]
Category: Junior doctors
Partha Kar: A question of faith
There’s something deep seated within the whole junior doctor angst, isn’t there? Many have joined the bandwagon and converted their angst into a lightening rod for all comers, but peel it apart…and there’s something which is a bit uncomfortable. Something isn’t quite right regarding the relationships between senior doctors and juniors. Yes, the seniors have […]
Neel Sharma: We need to understand the real life applications of technology in medical education
Technology as we all know has caused significant movement in medical education. In reality this was not a desire of our own as doctors, but was brought to us courtesy of the gaining popularity of technology use in everyday lives, from the rise of the internet, mobile devices, laptops, and social media. We then attempted […]
Reena Aggarwal on the politicisation of junior doctors
The term junior doctor has entered into vernacular. We have become a news story with media, politicians, and satirists all using it as subject matter. Last year little was known about junior doctors and it would have seemed very unlikely that the medical fraternity would have routinely filled headline news as they do now. I […]
Post-it note triage: A little documentation, a big difference
In January this year I spent a fortnight volunteering at the Moria Refugee Camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. At the time Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was the primary care provider in the camp and was supported by other charities such as Médicines Du Monde*. The small, UK based Health Point Project I was […]
Janis Burns on the junior doctors’ dispute: How can we achieve an outcome that satisfies the majority?
As with most things in life, the best solutions are often the most simple, and with retrospect, they were glaringly obvious. The resumption of talks between the BMA and the government was facilitated by our royal colleges suggesting nothing more complicated than a five day pause. A ceasefire called for by the natural mediators. What […]
Rachel Clarke: Junior doctors’ dispute—Jeremy Hunt musn’t ignore doctors’ genuine concerns
It’s ironic, isn’t it? Even as last ditch truce talks to settle the junior doctors’ dispute got underway this week, UK health secretary Jeremy Hunt has come under fire yet again for going to war with doctors on the flimsiest of pretexts. Yesterday, a stroke physician from Oxford University, Professor Peter Rothwell, talked about research that […]
Neena Modi: How might the junior doctors’ dispute be resolved?
After months of stalemate, a brief pause has been suggested so that both sides in the junior doctors’ dispute can take a deep breath, and get back to talking. How might this pan out? Let’s start by being quite clear: Paediatricians have always delivered a 24/7 service and the government’s own equality assessment shows that […]
David Oliver: A dispute played out via soundbites and spin cannot end well for services
I write this a few hours after the BMA agreed that it would take up the offer of renewed contract talks with the government, brokered by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. The government have in turn agreed a temporary suspension of imposition. PR has coloured the whole saga of the contract stand-off. What had […]
Junior doctors’ dispute: pause is welcome but fundamental problems remain
A five day pause in work to introduce a new contract for junior doctors could be a welcome opportunity for both sides to engage meaningfully on the outstanding issues of disagreement. But it would do little to quell the anger that led junior doctors to the first all out strike in the history of the […]