{"id":36579,"date":"2016-04-29T10:11:19","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T09:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=36579"},"modified":"2016-04-29T10:11:21","modified_gmt":"2016-04-29T09:11:21","slug":"thomas-macaulay-senior-doctors-opinions-on-the-junior-doctors-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/04\/29\/thomas-macaulay-senior-doctors-opinions-on-the-junior-doctors-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Macaulay: Senior doctors’ opinions on the junior doctors’ strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tom_maccauley\"<\/a>The letters pages of British broadcasts last week were inundated with the views of doctors on the strike of their junior colleagues.<\/p>\n

Most were united in their criticism of the misleading media coverage. Writing to The Guardian<\/em>, Dr Michael Maier described the reporting as \u201csensational and inaccurate\u201d with particular reproval reserved for the description of a 48 hour withdrawal of emergency care that was \u201cactually between the hours of 8am and 5pm on 26 and 27 April.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cmany myths surrounding the contract negotiations,\u201d Dr Thomas Mount told the Financial Times<\/em>, were led by Jeremy Hunt\u2019s \u201cmisleading invoking of patient safety in order to drive through a political battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their fears were that the support for the junior doctors\u2019 cause would be tested by the distorted press coverage.<\/p>\n

Dr Bob Bury expressed more faith in the general public. \u201cI suspect that this is just another example of a politician hoping that if you tell the same lie often enough, people will believe it,\u201d he told The Guardian<\/em>. \u201cIn which case, [Hunt] has miscalculated badly\u201d<\/p>\n

There was widespread agreement that the government\u2019s plans for a seven day service were ill conceived. \u201cUnsafe and unworkable, in its current guise\u201d was the description given to The Independent<\/em> by Dr Jonathan Barnes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoving to a seven-day NHS without proportionately increasing staff levels and resources seems to be the wrong strategy,\u201d said Dr David Etherington, Professor Suzan Lewis, and Dr Ian Roper in a joint letter to The Guardian<\/em>. \u201cThe need is more doctors and more ancillary staff,\u201d Dr David Hawker added in The Times<\/em>. \u201cThat needs funds and planning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connecting the junior doctors\u2019 contract to the seven day NHS was little more than a cynical ruse, suggested Dr Tilford in The Guardian<\/em>, who suspected that \u201cas soon as the politicians defeat the doctors, any mention of a seven day service will mysteriously fade from view.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two retired doctors drew a parallel between the junior doctors’ strike and the 1984-85 miners\u2019 strike. \u201cThatcher was successful and today we have no miners or mines,\u201d Jill Thompson told The Guardian<\/em>. \u201cIf Hunt is successful, can we look forward to no doctors, hospitals, or GP surgeries?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gareth Williams was less sympathetic. The BMA, he wrote to The Telegraph<\/em>, \u201chas become as militant as the miners were during the Seventies. The BMA leadership would do well to reflect on the current state of the mining industry in Britain.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the majority of senior doctors disagreed. The historical lack of strikes made doctors \u201cprobably the least militant workforce in the country,\u201d argued Dr Maier, \u201cso a strike over this issue needs to be taken seriously.”<\/p>\n

The consequences of the strike would certainly be serious, said Dr Christoph Lees. \u201cThe disaster of the junior doctors\u2019 strike, whichever side wins, is the long-term effect it may have on the medical workforce,\u201d he warned The Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The current problems of declining numbers of foundation year applicants in England and mental health trusts struggling to fill rotas and increasingly reliant on locum doctors, he suggested, would only be exacerbated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe health secretary\u2019s disregard for the consequences of his actions has been astonishing,\u201d Dr Mount added. The increasing number of junior doctors choosing not to apply for further training in England and the growing gaps in speciality training meant \u201cthe future of the NHS could well be at stake,\u201d he worried.<\/p>\n

Thomas Macaulay<\/strong> is a newspaper journalism MA student at City University London. He previously worked in a research and development department of the NHS.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The letters pages of British broadcasts last week were inundated with the views of doctors on the strike of their junior colleagues. Most were united in their criticism of the misleading media coverage. Writing to The Guardian, Dr Michael Maier described the reporting as \u201csensational and inaccurate\u201d with particular reproval reserved for the description of […]<\/p>\n

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