England’s junior doctors made good on their threat and struck for the second time on February 10, 2016. The junior doctors, who work for the National Health Service (NHS) went on a one-day strike on January 12, 2016 to protest a new employment contract offered by the government. The physicians provided only emergency care during the 24-hour strike with nearly 3, 000 operations being postponed, according to the NHS.
English Docs Strike Again, Government Imposes Contract
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The doctors’ union, the British Medical Association (BMA), said the contract does not provide proper safeguards against doctors working dangerously long hours. The BBC reported that doctors had rejected the government’s “final take-it-or-leave-it” offer, raising the prospect of ministers imposing the new contract without agreement.
Contract Imposed
And that’s just what happened. On February 11, British Health Secretary Member of Parliament Jeremy Hunt told the house that talks had ended in stalemate, and the government will now impose its new contract on junior doctors.
The government says the new contract will deliver more consistent service seven days a week. Reuters reported that studies have shown that mortality rates are higher on weekends when staffing is reduced. The new deal would see the junior physicians given a pay rise but some anti-social hours for which they are currently paid a premium would be considered to be standard.
Ninety-eight percent of more than 37, 000 junior doctors in England voted for strikes in protest against the new contract proposed by Health Secretary Hunt. Physicians in the rest of Great Britain are not involved.
The BMA threatened further strikes or even legal action. Dr. Johann Malawana said an entire generation of doctors will be alienated by the government’s handling of the dispute. “There’s a real risk that some will vote with their feet, ” said Malawana, the junior doctor committee chairman at the BMA. “Our message to the government is clear: Junior doctors cannot and will not accept a contract that is bad for the future of patient care, the profession, and the NHS as a whole. And we will consider all options open to us.”
The new contract is supposed to take effect in August.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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